Get Yer MKBill Cap

Because you are So Uppity!

During the last Democratic debate in New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders mentioned the word “Judgment” a number of times. He is very right that good judgment is an extremely important quality in a President. However, he seems to have avoided the importance of Intent in the mind of a President. So, I thought it would be an appropriate time to discuss both Bernie Sanders’ judgment and rightfully question his intent.

Charismatic calling for Revolution

History is riddled with lessons on how we should beware of charismatic potential leaders. This is particularly the case when they call for “Revolution” of “The People”. Gratefully, our forefathers had the good sense to give us a Democratic Republic with three branches of government to ensure that the “Revolutions” recorded by history can never occur in America. But still, every now and then, a charismatic person appears and promises a world he can never deliver, while thinking of his heroes. We have one in our presence today. As you can see in my previous post, “Bernie We Hardly Know Thee, But What We Know Is Horrible,” Bernie has many heroes in his mind. The Sandinistas and Ortega were “Impressive” to him. He visited Nicaragua to attend the Seventh Anniversary of The Revolution. He honeymooned in the USSR and sought out a “Sister City” to crown upon his return to Vermont. Today, the Communist and Marxist parties of the USA are thrilled to see him running for President.

Bernie also despised JFK. He said JFK “Made me sick”. The reason Bernie despised JFK had to do with one of his heroes: Fidel Castro. Bernie declared that Castro “Transformed Cuba”. Bernie was right. Castro sure did transform Cuba. Oh yes, indeed he did. Castro was just one more example of how easily Socialism “For The People” can evolve into Fascism under a “Charismatic” leader.

Our member “FLVoter” has taken the time to tell us a very important story. It’s the story of how a 4-year-old child and her family escaped Castro’s “Transformed Cuba”. As I read her essay, I could read between all the lines. I know you will feel the same way. It’s a cautionary tale that leads us to wonder about the man who likes to denigrate the judgment of others while his own is rather suspect.

I would like to thank FLVoter and her mother, with whom she collaborated. This couldn’t possibly have been easy to talk about or to write:

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The following is an essay by Member FLVvoter:

In 1967 my family consisting of two small children under the age of six, my grandmother and my mother and father left Cuba via the Freedom Flights to the United States. The process to leave Cuba began almost two years prior to our departure. The Cuban Government made emigration as difficult as possible. If you were going to emigrate you could not be employed from the moment you gave notice of your intent to leave to the moment you left. At the time you left you had to have the same amount of money in the bank that you had at the time you gave your notice to leave otherwise you were not allowed to leave. If it were not for my grandfather, we could have never left. It must have been incredibly difficult for my grandfather believing that he would never see his only son again, but knowing that life in Castro’s Cuba was impossible, to help us during those two years that it took the Cuban Government to allow our departure.

So what would push my family to leave everything behind, family, friends, culture and go to the great unknown United States? How many people today could leave behind the warmth of family and the familiarity of your homeland knowing that you could never return? It was a risk, but the greater risk was staying in Cuba. Life without freedom had made Cuba unbearable. Just stop and think, could you live your life not knowing if you would wake up in your bed the next morning, or if someone you loved and cared about just disappeared? Any life in a foreign country was better than how we were living in Cuba.

Prior to 1957 Cuba was a fairly international city, with a thriving business population and robust tourism. At that time the Cuban currency and the US currency were just about equivalent. Tourism was huge since Cuba boasted the most beautiful beaches in the world. Bautista was the current dictator, who overthrew the elected Cuban President, Carlos Prio Socorras in 1952. By 1957 Fidel Castro was already in Cuba fighting to overthrow Bautista and by New Year Eve 1958 Bautista and his cronies abandoned Cuba to Fidel Castro.

One of Bernie’s Heroes

At first the majority of the population was happy with Fidel Castro since Bautista was a dictator and who wants to live under a dictatorship? Castro promised a way back to democracy with his pledge of free and open elections. However, those free and open elections never materialized. Instead he chose to prosecute any and all people that he deemed part of the Baustista Government. Castro rid himself of the military leaders after mock trials and executed them publicly. And by publicly I mean televised. As you can imagine many people were horrified, who wants to see mock trials and public executions, with the favored method of execution being firing squads. After the initial outrage, Castro stopped the public executions and instead continued his reign of terror in private. Yes, hard to imagine, but mom and dad lived this way until we were able to leave. Just imagine a friend, a neighbor, a family member or you could just disappear overnight never to be heard from again. And of course let’s not forget Castro’s executioner Che Guevara who took particular pleasure in earning his nickname the Butcher of the La Cabana (a Cuban prison where political prisoners were held be they man, woman or child). Some members of my mother’s family had first hand experience of this prison. Many times prisoners were marched out thinking that they were going to die by firing squad only have the bullets fired above their heads. Or other times they would just be killed. Torture was an everyday occurrence, so death was not the worst thing that could happen.. For those not in prison but desperately searching for loved ones that had disappeared, there was no relief. You must assume the worst.
While I am no fan of guns and support gun control, it is important to note that one of the first things Castro did was to collect all privately owned firearms. In the beginning it was voluntary but if Castro’s police found you with a firearm you went to prison, no trial, no appeal, just prison.

After the Castro Revolution food became scarce, grocery shelves were empty, staples such as toilet paper, diapers, and shoes could not be found. There were no aspirins or any pharmaceuticals available. If some missing item did miraculously appear the lines were incredibly long with no guarantee of actually being able to buy anything. At Christmas, toys were scarce. My father waited in a line for two days in order to buy three toys for my brother and me. Yes, even though just about everything was scarce, nothing was free. Even in Communist Cuba there is no free ride. The first time my parents saw a US grocery store after being without food and staples for so long they were just overwhelmed. They had not seen so much since before Castro and to this day my mother still hordes food.

As to the day to day life in Castro’s Cuba the Communist Party assigned block leaders that oversaw each block. Those block leaders reported to others, so that the Communist Party always knew what you were doing. The block leaders had the right to search your belongings including anything coming in or out of your house. There was no privacy. When my parents gave the Cuban Government notice to leave, everybody in the neighborhood knew they were leaving even though they told no one.

My mother related to me so much more about how drastically life changed for us in Cuba after Castro. Eventually my grandfather’s clinic (where I was born) was confiscated. My grandmother risked her life just to obtain food via the black market that she would share with family and neighbors since if it was discovered that you had more than your rations would allow you would be imprisoned. So much to tell but I think by now you understand the desperation that we felt.

So how did Castro transform Cuba? Easy. He destroyed the economy, democracy, the judicial system, and personal freedom. In short he transformed Cuba from the jewel of the Caribbean to a third world country that enslaved its people.

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Uppity Note: I asked FLVoter if I could include the following email comment, just as a reminder to all of us that, no matter how bleak things look sometimes, we are very lucky to be in the USA.

This the first time my family has spoken in any detail about what it was like. Throughout the years we always heard stories but no one cohesive account. I ended up speaking to my mom for hours yesterday. Like most Cubans of that era, we fully integrated into the US and kept our experiences private. I do appreciate the anonymity of the FLVoter name since my family is still not 100% comfortable discussing our experiences in Cuba we still have some family left there and I would imagine that it will not go well for them if someone spoke out against the Cuban government. Maybe paranoia to some people, but this is just part of the Cuban experience.

437 Responses

Flvoter: Thank you and your heroic mom for sharing this harrowing tale with readers of this blog. It certainly is a cautionary tale. And yes, lavishing praise on such a despicable regime is the polar opposite of good judgment–even if they do have single-payer health care. Some things do come with too high a price and not just in 💰.

Thank you. This was hard for my mom to discuss. There are so many more stories she told me about my family, the prisons some were taken into, how she was finally able to liberate her uncle after 20 years as a political prisoner. Just too difficult even now to go into detail. So very painful how quickly life changed. After hearing about it in more detail I really am so very proud of both my parents and know that we were incredibly lucky to leave Cuba to the United States. Those born here don’t know how very lucky they are.

Great story Flvoter. The thing that has always annoyed me about conservatives is they act like Bautista was the “bastion of freedom” ignoring the fact that he was a dictator too. I guess it’s fine to take away people’s freedom if it’s done in the name of “free markets”.

Ga I’m not really sure. There is a divide. The old timers that came over in the 60s are usually Republican but they are older and some have already passed. I am a Democrate but am moderate not a leftist. Even though I don’t support any of the Republicans I am happy to see some Cubans in the mix for the Repubs but a lot of the things they say are just nuts. The newer generation that came during the boat lift and beyond appeared to support Obama during the general in 2012. So like the rest of the US we are torn between the parties. The only thing I can say is that no one I know backs Cruz or Trump. Let’s see how it plays out. Florida is a mix, I really don’t know how it would go in the general election. For state elections Florida usually goes Republican.

fl, what do you think of our country’s loosening of restrictions and relations between USA and Cuba? I saw a Bourdain piece and he was talking to Cubans who felt that things would get better there. It was kind of sad to see these people have so little, in a crumbling environment, hoping for more now that America is someone in the mix.

Apparently Americans are traveling there looking for real estate potential.

As SOS, Hillary strongly backed lifting the embargo and normalizing relations but pushing still for political reforms and release of political prisoners. She said the embargo obviously hasn’t worked–except for the Castros who blame all Cuba’s problems on the American embargo. We need to export democratic values to the Cuban people.

Uppity I know someone who boats to Cuba from time to time and he takes coloring books with crayons to give to the kids. He said you would think that you had given them a nugget of gold because of their reaction. I certainly hope it does help the Cuban people and I’m glad the embargo is gone although Europeans and Canadians have been able to go there for quite a while now.

I recall that Rahm The Asshole went there for vacay and had to come home after yet another disaster in Chicago under his Non-Watch. Gawd, Rahm doesn’t do anything if he can’t take advantage of someone for his own benefit, so I wonder what he planned to do there. God help the Cuban people if Rahm is interested in them.

I’m not sure what to think about lifting the embargo. Part of me doesn’t think it worked since the Castro brothers are still around. The other part wishes that the US would set conditions and lift it incrementally to insure the Cuban people are able to experience some of the freedoms they lost and that the monies spent by tourists actually reach the people. If this isn’t done all that will happen is that the Cuban government will thrive again and the people will continue to starve. Lastly, the Cuban jails full of political prisoners need to be released like yesterday!!!

I’m not sure how the heck you get rid of the Castro brothers. Certainly passively waiting for them to die off hasn’t worked. And I’m sure when the current one dies there is another one lined up to take his place.

Fear not flvoter..Death comes for us all, even the Castro brothers.Sometimes,painful as it is, we have to wait a very long time for Justice. Honor to your mother for her bravery and so glad we were able to provide you w/safe haven…maybe not ideal,but at least safer.
We’re still working on that.

To that end,I’m hoping that Hillary will start bringing up Bernie’s stint on the Vets’ committee;every time he brings up his Iraq vote and his all knowing judgement. A lot easier to pass “judgement” when you’re not in a position of leadership.

Also hope that when Bernie takes credit for Obamacare,that Hillary reminds him how he spent most of his time on the committee not negotiating,but lobbying for single payer;only came on board the Obamacare vote at the last minute. ( A prime example of how dreaming too big falls into that “perfect being the enemy of the good” Bill likes to talk about ( Bill Clinton, to be clear).

Do you all remember when Obama was getting contributions from overseas from ..Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop? I have a sneaking suspicion Bernie has the same contributers. I wonder who could look into that?

So after the last Town Hall and debate..here’s my new bumper sticker…
Hillary..Competent & Compassionate. ( I’ve always been a sucker for alliteration)

flvoter, my heart goes to you and your family. And to the cubans who are still oppressed. Thank you for sharing this.

Your story reminds me of the Rohingya people, the stateless people of Burma (now known as Myanmar). Their stories spanned hundred of years. We called them “unwanted” muslim bangladeshis. It’s one of the saddest outcome of human migrations, politics, oppression, human traffickings, killings, and to a fault, their own stubborness to change into their surrounding environment. But survive, human must. We, malaysians, tries to accommodate them. Taking them in under UCHNR status. For now those “boat people” seemed safe in our shore. And we hope one day, that they will find their way back “home”.

And flvoter, I am glad that you and your family have found your “home” in USA. Go Hug your mom for me k

Flvoter, thank you for reminding us how blessed we truly are! I can’t begin to imagine such fear and horror. I’m humbled and grateful that your mom chose to share you family’s history with us. To all of your family I send my love and respect.

Sophie, loved both vids! Yeah, she really showed her evil intentions in that speech! God forbid someone takes the lead in helping women around the world become entrepreneurs! Thanks for always finding such great stuff.

@davidsirota is REALLY pushing this Transcript scandal on Twitter. His whole timeline is about the transcripts “she must be hiding something.”
He blocked me long ago. So, if someone else could give him a piece so I can live vicariously…

Next thing you know they’ll want all her phone calls. It’s all bullshit. Transcripts belong to the people who paid to hear a speaker. It’s like demanding a consultant revealing what they did for a client. Nah gonna happen. Get a subpoena. Make sure you come up with a legal reason. Let it go. No sense of being driven nuts over some B level MSNBC guy feeding Bernie’s Barn Animals shit to say so they don’t have to address how their old white guy doesn’t know shit about much.

Listen gang, we knew Hillary was going to get more of the same this time around. I for one am not going to make my self sick watching it. Everyone is upset because she’s going to lose NH. We knew she was going to lose NH and you can BET Quinnipiac’s national poll is Outlier…they did the same shit with Iowa. Quinnipiac has already been called out by HillaryMen as manipulating data and questions. They’re full of shit. As for CNN, they are just stirringr the pot. THEIR NH poll as Outlier compared to other polls. Ignore their shit, it didn’t work in Iowa, it won’t work in NH. We expect Hillary to lose to Bernie’s White Man neighbor. But she won’t lose the way they are pretending she will lose. Later they get to talk for a whole fucking week about how she recovered because she gets better when her ass is beaten up by people like them every three minutes. Blah blah blah. They’re talking about “can she make a come back”. Come back from what? We’ve only had one primary caucus and she won it. Get it?

Everybody let’s take a deep breath. Inhale……Exhale…
We’ll get refreshed in S. Carolina and Nevada.

Doesn’t the junk on MSNBC eventually spill over to mainstream though Uppity. If not challenged, it then becomes so ingrained that the never gets out. I think that’s the most frustrating thing about supporting Hillary. Watching these memes get started and grow. Knowing that the lies will eventually on the lips of every reporter, every pundit. We’ve been seeing this go on for decades. The garbage spreads faster now with social media.

Sanders is begging for the young ones to get out to vote in NH. He Knows that the polls are not that far apart.

Hillary is in Flint today. She’s going to cut into his S. Carolina numbers, lucky if he does get his 17%. Suddenly he’s talking all about black people, like they’re too stupid to know he hasn’t said boo before this.

Sanders is hoping for the Obama effect. That Iowa would prove that he was viable, electable and then support would shift to him. With a lot of help from the media. The media is doing their part for Sanders, I hope that people will see through Sanders’ manipulation and lies, but I’ve had my faith in the voting public shattered before.

I was amazed when in the niddle of the debate the other night, Todd suddenly comes up with a “question sent in from the viewing audience,” the only time in the whole debate that was done. And the question was, “Will Hillary release transcripts of Goldman-Sachs speeches?” And Todd asked, would she release transcripts of ALL of her speeches to various entities?”

This is what it must have been like in the McCarthy era. Guilit by insinuation. “Release all of your letters.” “Whom did you meet with the other night?” Implications of nefarious activities. It is both juvenile and evil. Also laughable, in that it implies that Hillary would go around to Goldman Sachs and promise that she would help them, or make sure they could manipulate the market. She, nor indeed anyone else, would never do that, for a variety of reasons. The idea that suddenly, for the first time ever, a candidate is asked to release transcripts of presentations she made as a private citizen, to dozens of business or private entities, is beyond mnid-boggling.

I’m still waiting to hear what all those pro-Wall Street votes were when she was Senator from NY, and had something like a 98% liberal voting record per various group;s who compile such things. Everything in this malicious campaign driven by her enemies, and latched onto by the media, is,intended to be guilt by implication. Mails, speeches, aides. Much the same thing happened to Bill Clinton when he ran: And who can forget the five years, $90 million, and countless major magazine cover stories utterly wasted on the matter known as Whitewater?

The one plus in all this teeth-gnashing stuff is that in a general election, the nonsensical theme that Hillary is a great friend of Wall Street, will actually make her look more moderate to the Independent voters. The Republicans sure aren’t going to try to exploit it; they want to try to paint her as a dangerous radical, as they always do to any Denocrat.

By far the biggest story which should have come out of the debate, is thT Sanders has no idea about foreign policy matters. I was almost embarrassed for him. It is hard to believe that any voter over 15 years old would want him to be in a position where he had to make diplomatic and military decisions.

Everything in this malicious campaign driven by her enemies, and latched onto by the media, is,intended to be guilt by implication. Mails, speeches, aides. Much the same thing happened to Bill Clinton when he ran:
William, someday some one is going to have to do a definitive piece on why the Media hates the Clintons with such white hot passion and constantly schemes to bring them down.
I think it boils down to jealousy: they look at Bill and think, “Why him, why not me?” and look at Hillary and think, “Why her, why not me?”
Hillary bears the additional burden of making the Chuck Todds and Andrea Mitchells feel bad about themselves because she is so very intelligent and so good. Where’s the fun in that?

The problem with begging the young ones to get out and vote at this late date is that NH does not have same day registration as Iowa does. I guess he can beg and plead with the ones that are already registered but if his campaign has not been registering people like they weren’t in Iowa it’s pretty much a goner in NH as far as that goes.

Sue, I think you’ve hit on much of it in your comment, and those you have made earlier. Jealousy; as well some kind of “class status” thing from media would-be aristocrats. The Clintons did not come from wealth, as many American political figures did, so they are scorned as “not one of us.” And as I wrote in an earlier essay, somehow they are irrationally made the scapegoats for everything that makes people unhappy about their lives or how the country is doing. I’m waiting for Sirota or some other maniacally obsessed person to try to claim that Hillary caused the crash of 2008.

And the Clintons are a threat to those who hate them. Dukakis, a very decent person, was mocked, but he was not a threat to the ruling class. Kerry was called a phony war hero who actually shot hinself to get a purple heart, which is an obscene smear. But he wasn’t really a threat to them, either. The Clintons, who are super-smart, and who know more than everyone else does about political and global matters, are feared rather than applauded. The media wants someone it feels superior to, like Bush. The media likes Republicans in office, because they throw better parties. And the Democratic Left has been wishing for its revolution since the 1930’s. Some of them didn’t even like FDR, believing he made the revolution less likely, which was indeed true, thank heavens. So they hate the Clintons for not being radicals. Meanwhile, the best potential president I have ever seen, has all these impediments thrown in her path by self-righteous people who really only care about themselves, not the country or the planet.

New Hampshire residents who will be 18 years of age or older on the day of the next election, and a United States Citizen, may register with the supervisors of the checklist or the town or city clerk where they live up to 10 days before any election. You may also register on election day at the polling place.

So, as Kunin recounts in her 1994 memoir, Living a Political Life, Sanders leveled a tough attack against her. At that rally, Kunin wrote, Sanders declared that “he would be a better feminist than I.” According to her account, Sanders shouted that Kunin had “done nothing for women.” And, she recalled in her book, “When my husband, there as my surrogate (I was scheduled to speak elsewhere), rose to speak in my defense, he was booed by the crowd. Arthur’s red-faced anger became the children’s horror story of the campaign, which they embellished in the retelling—our private macabre joke.” Kunin was already coming under attack from the right for her vocal support of the Equal Rights Amendment; now she was being hammered for not being feminist enough.

Sophie and Imust..thanks for the links. Uppity and William ..thanks for the analysis and calming/accurate and hopeful words.

I was watching Hillary’s speech to the NH Dem Party fundraiser on CSPAN this morning and was deeply moved. When you’ve spent your life getting up every morning looking for ways to make your life and that of others better,even if in a small way..it’s kind of hard to see so many out there dissing that kind of approach to life.So to me,repudiating Hillary is kind of like determining that all I’ve spent my life working for is worthless;unimportant.( Fear not, I quickly remember not to give a shit about such people)
I don’t mean to fall into that “either/or” kind of thinking that motivates the Repubs and so much of the media. ( Listen to hear how often they try to frame a question w/only two possible answers) but I can’t help but hear;”What’s in it for me?” when I listen to those who support Bernie. Seems to me that when there’s a crisis in this country there are those who ask,” How can I help?” and those who ask,” What’s in it for me?” Guess I feel more comfortable w/ the question” What do we need to do next,to make progress?”

As to Chuck and Andrea..there’s a special ring in hell just waiting for them..their torture will be no one paying attention to them and perpetual low ratings. And Andrea,honey,let Al stand up for himself..he’s a big boy. He doesn’t need you to protect his “legacy” from the mean old Clintons.

The truth will set us free;if we can just get the media to report the truth;or even just the facts..I’d settle for that.Hey,wouldn’t it be cool if Hillary did a McCarthy-like demonstration of how people come after her? You know waving some papers around in the air and saying;”Here’s how they come after me. I have here in these papers evidence that Hillary misused her e-mail;promised Wall Street she’d make their lives better..is a liar,untrustworthy;doesn’t understand people like me. You know what stops this kind of innuendo? Doing your homework,checking the facts;reading and listening from multiple sources,not just your favorite website,twitter account ,network or what your best friend says.That’s what I do and what I’ll do for you;my homework.”

Unfortunately, Gloria is right! They are the groupies. The 3rd wavers who changed what ‘feminism’ is to be more pleasing to the boys. Gloria is right, that is why they are doing it. They get invited to the events, they get invited to the Bernie parties. It IS where the boys are.

For more than two decades the GOP has veered deeper into disaster. Unable to adapt to the rapid cultural, technological, economic and global changes thrust upon it, the party has fomented backlash and reaction. The national Democratic Party, meanwhile, has left its 1970s dysfunction behind. Flexible and functional, it has displayed pragmatism (how much did Nancy Pelosi NOT want to bail out Wall Street in 2008?) and moderation (basing its health-care reform on the plan of a conservative think tank) and knowing, most of the time, more or less, when to take half, or quarter, of a policy loaf when the whole is unobtainable.

Sanders threatens that. Should he wrench a sizable part of the party in his direction, and keep it, Democrats risk resembling Republicans in all their sorry ideological fixations, infighting and incompetence. If a large, radicalized faction emerges on the Democratic side, as it has within the GOP, the nation could truly become ungovernable, paralyzed by two fractured parties equally incapable of reconciling themselves to complex realities.

The reason some polls show Sanders doing better in the general election than Hillary:

1) Half the country has not even heard of Sanders, and much of the other half does not know what his views are.

2). Some Republicans pretend they will vote for Sanders in the polls, because they desperately want Sanders to be the nominee.

3). A whole bunch of Sanders supporters say that they will vote for a Republican over Hillary, both to skew the numbers, and because they are so stupid and entitled that they do not realize the effects of a Republican takeover of three branches of government.

4). The Republicans have not said one negative thing about Sanders so far, not one. They attack Hillary in every debate. They want Sanders to get the nomination, and then they will go on all-out attack.

5). The minute that the general populace realizes that Sanders is a Socialist, his support drops in half and he can’t win. HIllary hasn’t pointed it out, nor has the media, except very briefly. America is not gong to elect a Socialist as president, not a chance of it.

This entire thing is a dupe, just like this idea that tens of millions of new voters are going to rise from the mists and lead a glorious revolution, the likes of which has not ever been seen in American politics. It is a fantasy which some Democrats have believed in for many decades. We actually heard it during the McGovern primary campaign. A Sanders nomination would basically ensure the takeover of the country by the right-wing zealots, who are silently begging for the Democrats to hand that to them.

Georgia, thanks for linking that for me. This is embarrassing, but the truth is, I don’t know how to link on a pc, and I am currently using hubbie’s work pc while I wait for my old mac to get fixed. Hubbie doesn’t know how to link from this either. He just uses it to file his work reports. If anyone has the time & patience, I would be very grateful. My first computer was a mac, so I’m afraid I am pc-stupid. 😦

Ok Socal, here is your lesson.
1. Place your cursor at the url line in your browser, where the link is displayed
2. Right click and choose “Select All” The link will change color
3. Right click and select “Copy”
4. Come to the blog and start a comment. Right click and select “Paste”.

William, one can expect Bernie to win his neighboring state. One would LOVE for him to win it by a single digit. One would ADORE if H beat him. Then we would be able to say, “The Revolution is Cancelled”. Oh how I long to tweet that. However, I would settle for losing by single digit.

Well, in NH Bernie is definitely going down and Hillary is going up. The only unknown is where the numbers are actually going to end up. If Sanders ends up losing NH maybe he should have not spent a ton of time whining about IA. Look at all the time spent on Iowa and after all is said and done Hillary still won.

That’s okay Sophie, you just click on keep reading and it takes you to the whole article. It was soooo worth the click! Thank you for that Sophie. I don’t even know how to respond right now. It was brilliant and spot on of course, but also depressing. When Hillary talks of the hardest glass ceiling, she’s not kidding. It will take Superman to crash through, or more precisely, Superwoman. Hillary Clinton is the only woman I can think of who has the drive, stamina, and skill set to do it.

I can’t believe how SHITTY Bernie Chicks are being to Gloria and Maddy. People who haven’t done one thing of value yet (and who are stupid enough to believe that their one thing will be voting for Bernie) feel entitled or worthy of criticizing either one of them. I just can’t

Bernie, and his bots seem to believe that FDR was a socialist, or a Democratic Socialist. They say the current Democrats can not claim the legacy of FDR, Social Security, etc. The Clintons, according to them, took the party to the right, away from its roots and made the party corporate. At least, that’s what I’m gathering from their inane comments.

Yeah and they have this idea that snow plowing and other city services are ‘socialist”. Seriously. Obviously none of them own a home or they would know that those services are paid for by property owners.

This is an entitled generation, Sophie. Their parents spoiled the shit out of them, they got trophies everywhere for just showing up, and not they think the rest of us should take care of their every desire because they spent down all their parents’ money. These kids are the reason companies keep calling retirees up and asking them to come back to work.

She’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t. It’s 2008 all over again. She has to apologize for and explain comments made by surrogates, while he cheats, lies, steals and {crickets}. The wonderful and brilliant post by Sady Doyle above would fall on deaf ears to these people because they are not just part of the problem, they are the problem.

Getting back to the subject of this post, Sanders has said the most outrageous things about Castro…{crickets} but the media is demanding to see HRC’s transcripts of speeches, (remind you of email faux scandal?) So, again Bernie said this:

“In 1959 […] everybody was totally convinced that Castro was the worst guy in the world and all of the Cuban people were going to rise up in rebellion against Fidel Castro,” said Sanders. “They forgot that he educated their kids, gave their kids healthcare, totally transformed the society.”

The Democrats were virtually a lost party when Bill Clinton came along. Crushed by Nixon in 1972, winning one state and DC. After Watergate, still barely squeak out a win with the conservative Carter. Carter beaten ten points in 1980. Mondale wins four or five states in 1984, in another Republican landslide. Dukakis tries hard, but loses by eight points. One election victory in 28 years and it was with a Southern conservative in Carter. People asking if the Democrats could ever win another presidential election, or were they permanently resigned to trying to win Congressional seats.

Clinron changed that. Yes, I would have liked for him to have been as liberal as Dukakis, but he wouldn’t have won. He took the Democrats away from being called the party of welfare, and soft on crime. And he managed to get rid of the deficit, and grow the economy. He also tried hard for universal health care. And Sanders and the old Lefties in the party disparage that? I started to feel that that there were Democrats who enjoyed being out of power, just wanted to mock the Republican presidents and feel superior. FDR was a truly great president. But he took over in the midst of a horrifying Depression, and had a mandate that few presidents have had. Keep toying with candidates like Dean and Sanders and Warren, and we’ll have a bunch of virtuous fools at the grass roots who let the Republicans take away everything that the Democrats have built. True believers and ideologues have plagued the Democratic Party for many years. Bill and Hillary Clnton are in favor of just about all the right things, and know how to get things done, unlike Sanders and his preceders and followers, to whose ideology we can apply a paraphrase of the deservedly mocked term, “We have to destroy the party in order to save it.”

That seems to be it William. So her experience, her brilliance, her proven ability to get things done means nothing. They don’t think they are destroying the party, they think they are fixing it and bringing it back to its roots. This makes them feel so superior to those of us who favor the Clintons, who they see as corporate hacks.

Yes imust. The far left is the problem for us, just as the far right is. I am not a ‘progressive’ I am a DEMOCRAT! Nobody uses the word DEMOCRAT any longer. I am sick of the far left, they have ruined the country taking chances apiece with the far right. I despise them both equally, and quite frankly, I don’t even think I want to remain in this embarrassing party any longer. They are lorded over by socialist assholes and I barely agree with 20% of what they pimp. If we don’t extinguish the far left and the far right in this country, we are doomed to never doing a thing that’s worth spit any longer. Bernie has dragged hillary into territory I simply close my eyes and endure at this point. There is no common sense left with these two factions in existence.

Well, Upps, I can empathize – since I am certainly NOT a member of this so-called Democratic Party anymore. Oh, I’m still registered as such, and I still vote (mostly) for democrats, but I no longer consider myself a true member.

Not since 2008, and what we all went through. But, to be clear, I did not leave my party, my party left me.

And what they did to Hillary in 2008, they are doing again. That said, she is still going to get the nomination, but I’ve made clear my worries about Hillary winning in November.

And mark my words…

If Hillary Clinton – the most experienced, qualified, and competent candidate (of EITHER gender) in a generation – loses to whatever miscreant the Republicans settle upon, if that happens, it will be for one reason, and ONE reason only…

It will mean that her “party” betrayed her. Again. It will mean that too many of these snotty, arrogant, delusional democrats (of all ages) decided to sit this one out.

It will mean that because they couldn’t have their guy, Bernie, they will selfishly hand the presidency to the other party – since it is not truly about the good of the country, but it’s rather about THEM.

The Republicans cannot, and will not, defeat Hillary without the “help” of apathetic or solipsistic democrats betraying her. Again.

With so-called “friends” like that, who needs enemies?

So, yes, I worry. While still hoping that basic common sense will eventually prevail in my erstwhile party.

I don’t know why it’s so hard for most people to see, but BS (appropriate initials) is a con man, plain and simple. That’s what we usually call someone who goes around promising gullible people all kinds of goodies at little or no cost to them. We laughed at Mitt Romney last time for saying that Dems just want free stuff. Then along comes Bernie!

Uppity, I think that Hillary can save the Democratic Party. If given enough time and support, she can help nurture a new crop of young candidates who will start to take back statewide offices from Republicans. It’s our best hope. Obama never helped the Democrats downticket, and so we are worse off in that way than when he first ran.

Sanders has no support whatsoever among Democratic Congresspeople or governors. They not only realize that Hillary is by far the better candidate, they know that a Sanders candicacy would lead to another McGovern debacle. I watched Maggie Hassan at the Hillatry rallies, and I quite liked her, I think she would be a very good senator. There are good Democrats out there, even with those incredibly infuriating Salon types who need to think that they are superior to any party, and who think that they can afford having the Republicans win.

Rev Vet, you are right. And we have to take into consideration young morons who will believe anything if they think they can cash in, add the far left nutroots to the mix and, I tell you……I will stay a D to vote in Primary but I am trolling the hell out of this party and it’s certainly not going to be in the hands of the far right. Independent. Let them all pander to me.

I’ve said all along that the left is just as misogynist as the right. The ONLY difference is the left pretends they aren’t. But they are.

The only purpose women in the D party serve is to be bargaining chips with the Republicans. They always use us as hockey pucks, make promises they never intend to keep and are shameless pigs. They stick us on the back burner EVERY year. Fuck em. I hate this party.

Well, we’ve got a two-party system, and the other one is now populated by people of the very far Right. Let one of them get elected as president, and the country is in real danger of being destroyed as we have known it.

Third parties never win here. The system is set up to make sure of that. It is possible that at some point a charisnatic (always be wary of that term) person could win as a third-party candidate, but he/she could not maintain a party. So the goal is for the Democrats to nominate the best possible candidate, and there is no doubt that Hillary is the best potential president the Democrats have put forward in a long time. So she has to win. If she doesn’t, we will get a Republican president; and then in 2020, we will get Elizabeth Warren, who will get about 35% of the vote, if there still is a vote. And after that we will get Julian Castro, or Beyonce, and they will get 38% of the vote. So we need to win this election for Hillary and for ourselves and for the country. And also work to help downticket Democrats, since the persons they will run against will be infinitely worse, another rubberstamp for the Koch Brothers and their friends who are intending to set up an oligarchy here.

Sophie, do you have some encouraging evidence of gap-tightening? It would be welcome. I sas a tracking poll today which has her down 56-40. I’m just hoping whe is a bit closer than that; then we all have to just deal with the next week of horrible media stories, and then win big in South Carolna to feel much better.

Uppity, when someone from the DNC called me in 2008, after Hillary had withdrawn, and asked for money, I actually yelled at the poor woman, and told her that I was not donating one cent to them, after the way that they had treated her. And I haven’t, but I have given a substantial amount of money to Hillary. I cannot forgive them for what they did. The party nationally is worse off than it was in 2008. I just hope that Hillary can rebuild it. And if she puts her people in charge of the DNC, all the better. Then I will donate to them.

I’m happy to set this record straight. And I really want to, once again, call out the Sanders campaign, which claims they like to run a positive campaign. But they have been quite artful in raising questions and trying to cast doubts about my record.

And I really am not going to sit and take it anymore — I have a public record. I have never, ever been influenced in a view or a vote by anyone who has given me any kind of money. So I’m just going to keep setting the record straight.

William, sorry–earlier today I heard something like 50-41, then I heard 7 pt gap and I can’t find those Tweets. Now I’m hearing CNN says it’s 25 points. I don’t believe them at all because they have always been wide and Sanders.

This after the Albright/Steinem fiasco and the fake news about the campaign staff.

Sophie, thanks for the mediaite link. Regarding your other post about “anonymous sources” saying Hillary is shaking up her staff, it looks like that was the Politico smear machine, trying to make her look desperate. I f’ing hate Politico, and am so done with them. Anyway, here is a link that refutes it:

Thanks, Sophie. It is “interesting:: how these stories pop up right on the eve of each primary.

Annie, I agree. The idea is that she always has to be playing defense, responding to this or that matter. It is one thing or the other, they come up with an endless supply of them. Makes for great headlines for them, too. They probably have the headlines written even before they make up; the story.

Clue # 2- Republican Super Pacs are spending millions on ads against Hillary. ( Where have we heard of this happening before?)

Now you can call Republicans all kinds of things;but they’re VERY careful with their money ( not ours;theirs) They only invest when they’re really frightened of someone else’s power/vision. ( Google Swift boating )
They’re not scared of Bernie,no siree.

Sincerely;
Those who have been a part of a revolution or two and,NO;yours isn’t the only ,most special and bestest revolution. Pinky swear.

Msdsal, I made the mistake of listening to progressive radio, tonight, on my way to the supermarket.
The show’s host was interviewing some young know nothing about the primary race and Clueless said that he couldn’t vote for Hillary because Bill Clinton de-regulated the banks; I guess junior never heard of one Ronald Reagan.
The little fellow was also really excited that the Bernie campaign was attracting Republicans(!) and Rand Paul(!) enthusiasts. It doesn’t occur to him that might mean that Bernie is not really a Democrat and he doesn’t espouse Democratic ideas.
Trump and Bernie are two sides of the same coin; and my fear, now, is that when Hillary secures the nomination, she’ll be too damaged thanks to the Media and the moronic, misogynistic Bernie Bros and the idiotic women who service them.
All hail President Cruz.
I now see Bernie Panders (hi, Sophie) as an egotist, much like Nader, running a vanity campaign, with no concern for the fate of our country.
Fuck him and the VW Bus that he rode in on.

Sue, I can well understand your concern, with the media being so anti-Hillary. But since the Sanders campaign comes at her from the Left, it is not going to cost her centrist votes. The concern would be that too many of the Sanders devotees would sit out the election or actually vote against her, out of spite, or out of some insane idea that next time they would get Warren. And the more that Warren sits there like some kind of would-be kingmaker, the less I like her.

The article linked by Annie was cheering. Sanders cannot win a primary closed to only Democrats. In fact, that large number of “Independents” who voted for him in Iowa surely includes a number of LIbertarians and others who vote Republican. He is benefitting in NH from the same thing. One just hopes that the Democrats who are voting for Sanders have enough sense to realize what a Republican in the White House would mean. But the very young do not usually have that kind of long-term perspective.

Also, I love Bill Clinton, I do; but, our heroine is a big girl with big ideas who doesn’t need a male champion.
I think the Big Dawg should appear on select Sunday shows but leave the heavy lifting to Hillary.

Any halfway reasonable Democrat who reads this would not vote for Sanders

There aren’t many halfway reasonable Sanders supporters. After witnessing their lack of logic and reasoning power, not to mention their rejection of reality, I now know what they had to dumb-down colleges.

They don’t want to listen to reason. They just want to feel the burn. Don’t bother them with info, they want to live in la-la land. Bashing Clintons is so trendy and fun, even if its 20 years old. It’s the retro-fun then, even better for the hipsters! They should just throw 90s parties and all dress up like Newt and his Contract with America friends, play bash the Clintons games. Like: Who can make up the most outrageous Clinton lie? How many times can you say feminazi in one sentence?

Forget them. After today, only DEMOCRATS get to vote in our primaries. No Republican crossovers looking to pick Bernie for a bark stripping. Only DEMOCRATS, and, in case nobody noticed, a large number of them aren’t white Beer pong bros and their groupie girls. In fact, they aren’t white at all.

CNN is out of its mind with glee. Pulling poll numbers out of their asses. Wondering if Hillary can “make a comeback”. No kidding. Comeback from what? There was one caucus and she won it. I don’t care if she won it by one vote, a win is a win.

And Hillary’s campaign is second only to John McCain in the boredom factor. If you ask me, Bernie got all the nasty Obama staff who lied and cheated a lot and got away with it –and Hillary got what was left. All the batshit crazy Politics-For-Fun children are strikingly similar to the violent garbage-mouth trolls of 2008 as well.

This campaign is boring as shit. Come on. Admit it. And that David Brock isn’t worth the powder to blow him up with. Where the hell did she find him? He does all the Ops Research and then buries the information up his ass. What he does release is lame shit and only the Hillary choir sees it. No press releases? And if there are, nobody is paying attention to this boring blob. What the hell is the Hillary campaign thinking? Their ads are all tear-jerkers, don’t these people ever have any fun? Personally, I hope the rumors that there is going to be a shakeup are true because these people have absolutely NO excitement factor at all. They’re a drag. What idea is next? Bringing back that Penn guy who tanked her in 2008? How about the mole? Hillary has got to realize that just because someone is your friend and you trust that person, doesn’t mean they are going to be good at campaigns! Bernie has been going negative on her for awhile now. She needs to beat the shit out of him. He’s a coward when pushed back, we saw that in on of the last debates. And for chrissakes, she’s screaming as much as Bernie now. And I thought I would die when I saw her READING a speech in Flint! WTF? Whomever is lording over her twitter account is repetitious, same vapid tweets rotated. And boring as shit. If I had charge of that twitter account I would have Bernie crapping in his diaper.

There I said it. Her campaign blows goats. I don’t even recognize her, she’s so guarded and hobbled. Seriously, wake me up when her campaign starts.

I don’t know what campaign she’s supposed to have, and as far as going negative, if she as much as raises an eyebrow, it backfires and Bernie is the victim. Look what happened with Madeline Albright and Gloria Steinem, Bill spoke out and ZOMG!! 24/7 coverage of Hillary is desperate, they don’t like young women…when did you start hating young women/beating your wife questions. Does she need Simon and Garfunkel? Maybe. But if she did they’d say she’s copying Bernie. If she had used a 60s group/song they’d say she’s from “yesterday”. She had Katy Perry, Lady Gaga all the latest pop stars endorse and or perform at rallies. She is who she is and what ever that “is” I like, no I love. I’ve been moved to tears by her speeches and rallies, but maybe I’m just an ol’ dried up hag. That’s the point the media makes, doesn’t matter that Bernie is a grumpy old man, the kids love him. He’s like a dumber version of a Goddamn Timothy Leary! That’s so cooool. She’s a wonk, ah man, killin’ my chill with that policy stuff. Grab a joint and feel the Berrrrrnnn. Oh! I know! Hillary can pass out some happy brownies at her next rally! How bout she stand on her head in a clown suit while she passes them out. That’ll rev things up a bit.
She’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t know matter what. Maybe this country wants to really go retro and let’s go back to the 1970s and let’s loose elections for the next 20 years. Yeah, that’ll be really fun.

Sally Fields famously said, “You like me, you really like me!” Well, I guess Hillary could say the opposite. You really don’t like me. They don’t, I do. No matter how much I want this…her as my president, THEY don’t and they have the power. I just sit here on my stupid computer, tweeting, blogging and hoping people 3,000 miles away use their heads and don’t blow it…again. That’s really NOT fun.

This is an argument I can’t accept. It basically argues that she should just stand there and get beaten up and ultimately knocked out because if she fights back, she might get beaten up and knocked out.

There are ways of vetting the opposition and she is using NONE of them. She could just hand all that ops research she paid for over the the Republicans right now if that is how it’s going to go.

As with 2008 Hillary has the same kind of Let’s Wait And See attitude that tanked her then and can tank her now. There is nothing proactive going on here. It’s all REACTIVE. Kicking that old can down the road while your opponent is beating the shit out of you is not strategy anywhere in the world, much less in politics. She’s counting on the black vote. That’s a complacent attitude. Complacency and taking shit for granted is what murdered her candidacy last time. Her campaign takes a snapshot in time and expects it to stay that way. That’s not now things work. If anybody thinks Bernie isn’t going to lie and cheat his way to get minority votes and narrow that gap, then I honestly don’t know what to tell you. Waiting till you ARE desperate makes you look desperate. She DOES act desperate. The voter base is not comprised of just a bunch of kids looking for free everything. Others are watching too. Her achillies heal is she does NOT think ahead proactively and she does NOT use ops research well, if at all!

Her campaign should wear a Kick Me sign. I’m sorry but I am not going to pretend I see what isn’t there. This campaign is staffed with uncreative, non-proactive, complacent, toot-along mentalities. She needs to shitcan the whole lot of them. She has not chosen wisely. And this is the second time she has not chosen wisely.

Again, she doesn’t have the luxury of going on the attack or being proactive. Yes, he cheats, he lies. When FINALLY called out in media, barely, he apologizes, blames others, plays victim and fundraises off of it.
I didn’t think it would be as much of a problem as last time when everyone cried raaaaycist if she vetted her opponent. But what’s the deal this time? Oh, yeah it’s not about him, it’s her. She’s not allowed to vet, or she’s calculating, she’s driven by her need for power, (not like men who, no, never want power). Bernie is coddled and babied. I guess they want an historic SOCIALIST for president! I just saw a tweet, they’re gonna have revolution and shake up the whole rigged economy!! She goes negative and they say that she’s a part of that establishment that wants to keep you down….she’s the MAN, or in this case woMAN, she is the problem.

So basically she should just give him the nomination, then. Because it is obvious HE is controlling things and SHE is letting him. And I guess that’s okay, then. My point is her campaign as-is is NOT working and it certainly isn’t all Bernie’s fault. His job it to beat her. Her job is supposed to be to beat him not take shelter.

His job is to beat her up. Yes, her’s is too. But, once again, the press won’t let her. And you bet the GOP will have no problem beating him up at all…. and the press will probably help them, hand them some sticks.

Look what they let Trump get away with? The guy is out of control! And nothing, nothing he says hurts him. The more outrageous and rude the better.

Ratings, money, clicks, gotchas, access that’s what the media wants.

Satisfied with her campaign? She won Iowa, she probably won’t win NH. But that’s not unusual. You don’t have to win ALL just the most delegates. By that count, she’s winning. She’s not winning the spin game. Don’t think she could no matter how fresh (not stale) her campaign would be. TPTB don’t want her.

It’s frustrating upps for sure but it seems every time she blasts the Bern crowd she gets blasted. Every attempt to take him down somehow the media plays it as her problem. Bernie cheats and steals and it’s okay. Hillary mentions it and she’s “negative”. I have to say Bernie is doing a lot of damage to the entire party and they need to figure out how to rid themselves of him. Hopefully there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes to take down Bernie.

I know what you’re saying but the media is absolutely determined to take her down. You see it day in and day out. However you also have to realize that she has been going around the media. A friend of mine from Arkansas said the media hates her and Bill precisely because they DON’T NEED the media.

They are more obsessed with hating Hillary than they are about the fact that our country would be turned into a miserable fundamentalist theocracy under the GOP or some kind of round them all up fascism under Trump. It’s all about their desire to tell the voters who to vote for. It’s also the reason why the GOP is rebelling against this kind of stuff too. They’re sick of the media trying to pick their nominee for them too.

Boring? Stale? It’s a campaign for POTUS, not a freakin’ reality show. Hillary is not an entertainer, she’s a policy wonk. That’s her “authentic” self. The media insists she be authentic which she is but also wants her to be more “entertaining” and apparently you do too. I don’t know how she does that. I really don’t. And she’s not letting the media control the narrative. She’s doing lots of interviews now, pushing back on the smears both from media and BS. That’s all she can do as far as I can see.

The real problem is that the early states all allow non-Dems to vote as if they were. I get why they do that–ostensibly to bring more folks into rhe party. Thing is the far left parties are not interested in joining the Dem party. They are hell bent on taking it over. And they will never support Hillary, no matter what she does. Instead we see all the trolling, the bullying, the misogyny. We saw some of this in ’08, but Sanders used to belong to Socialist Workers’ Party. He’s one of their own in a way Obama wasn’t. So the assault on the party is on steroids now. I think it was a mistake to let Sanders run in the Dem primary. That’s pretty clear now. But we’ll just have to endure. All these freaks can’t just show up and vote as Dems in most states. And minorities are not amused by the totalitarian tactics. Hillary is far from complacent, but time is on her side. And ours.

Hillary’s events are not televised by the big networks. Why should they waste their time on her? When did she ever call someone a pussy ?
But if you can catch her on C-Span, she’s anything but boring.
I thought she was brilliant at the -mostly-African American church in Flint.

Notice how the email story kinda shrivelled and died after revelations about Powell and Rice last week? Media never admits error, much less apologizes. If a “scandal” turns out to be a “dry hole”, they just shove it down the memory hole and move on to next pseudo-scandal. This is what she’s up against and why I never second guess her. I could never put up with half the shit she does.

Boring was John McCain. Look how well that worked out for him. Stop blaming things on how everybody else acts. Nobody suggests she should say Pussy. I am saying that she has to stop sounding like a robot, because that is not her but that is what she sounds like. That’s not another candidate’s fault. She is being handled too tightly. She needs to be herself more. She doesn’t come across as sincere like she did in the beginning. She needs to tell everybody on her staff to go fuck a duck and start acting like I’ve seen her act. Stop worrying so much, because they are going to nail her for just inhaling and exhaling. But she still has to make her audiences believe in her whether MSNBC is there or not.

Donald may be the crudest, rudest thing to ever hit the campaign trail but at least he sounds sincere, and we all know he’s not.

Stop attacking the messenger for chrissakes. It benefits NOBODY to just see what we WANT to see.

I’ve been following Hillary as a political entity since 1999. She’s not herself. Period.

I do agree that when you see Hillary at a rallly, she is great. The other night she was at a college in NH. She obiously either had a small cold or just had a strained voice, so at times she spoke quietly. And when she did, it was almost poetic, her comments about the country, and the people she has seen over her many years on the public scene, and her empathy with their problems, and wanting to spend all of her waking moments as President to try to make things better. And I completely believe it.

Now, if we live in a culture where people are not only dumbed down by idiotic TV shows, but who now think that politics is supposed to be an entertaining video game, that approach will encounter problems .But yes, the media being virulently against her is most of the problem. I guarantee it: if Hillary comes up with a new proposal, “She is pandering.” “She is desperate.” “She is changing course.” They even make up a story about her shaking up staff, because making up stories is as good as actual stories to these reprehensible people. It is not coincidence that the last campaign she ran, she got called a racist, while Obama’s “Hope and Change” (whatever that meant) was lauded as wonderful. She could do a juggling act standing on her head, and the media would scorn it. She is like the junior high schoo “let’s get her for the day” person, except that it is every day with the media, who should all go to jail for disgracing their profession, and for thei corrupt lack of ethics.

But much of this is due to the two states she has run in. There is no doubt in my mind that there are Republicans crossing over to try to hurt her. As soon as she gets past NH, her campaign will look a lot better, because she will be speaking to real Democrats about how she can help them and the country. And if she wins big, it will seem as if this strategy is working effectively. This week is very unfortunately going to be glory time for the Hillary-hating media, and we have to suffer through it, and all the stupid attributions which will be made by them. But I do believe that is almost all an illusion. Hillary is betting that if she treats Sanders with kid gloves, he will ultimately withdraw and endorse her. If she is wrong in that bet, and Sanders runs as a third party candidate, then she made a mistake by now marginalizing him. But we’ll see how that progresses.

When Hillary talks about Wall Street she needs to talk up Gary Gensler at the CFTC. He came from Goldman Sachs and is one of her main advisors on reigning in Wall Street. What he has been able to accomplish at the CFTC with no real hardline regulations in place has been nothing short of extraordinary. When Hillary talks about Wall Street it should not just be in general terms about her “plan” and how much further it goes than Bernie’s; she needs to mention the names of the men and women, industry leaders, who have put their credentials on the line to hold their own colleagues accountable and to make sure what happened in 2008 doesn’t happen again.

She needs to tell Bernie and the folks listening on the campaign trail that only industry leaders, with expertise in the field, are going to reign in corporate greed and the people who deal in it because they know where the proverbial “bodies” are buried. Being a corporate insider doesn’t make you a crook. Where in the world does Bernie think the “whistleblowers” come from in the first place?

Many years back i remember a number of Democrats telling me that I had to vote for John Kerry, cuz of the Supreme Court. But has there really been a worst candidate to vote for recently than John Kerry (on the Dem side)? John McCain was Mr. Excitement next to Kerry. The guy couldn’t even make windsurfing look like fun. So to all the Dems who are constantly threatening that we will need the Sanders voters in the general I say fu@k you! I spent my time in purgatory having to vote for people like John Kerry just because of my lady parts. You all owe me and all the other women who have come out religiously and voted for the Dem. Time for you to take one for the team and vote for the smartest person running, Hillary Clinton!! And by the way, Democratic Party let’s just pretend for once that you are the party of women instead of the Bernie Bros.

Eurogirl, that would require the kind of complex, sophisticated thought process Bernie and his fans are incapable of. To them, if you work in the financial sector, you are by definition evil. This is a large part of the problem. Hillary has in fact refused to rule out people who work on Wall St. working in her administration because, obviously, government regulators need expertise in how the markets work. Duh! And the Sanders campaign has already attacked Gary Gensler for once working for Goldman Sachs.

Oy I give up. The world (meaning the way it Is with media, attitudes, etc) is not going to adapt to Hillary. Hillary will have to adapt to the world. She already has a choir to admire her and work for her, she needs to take care that she hangs onto them. Of course none of this would probably be a problemo if Bernie hadn’t promised and little entitled morons of the “I got a trophy for showing up. I’m Special” fame didn’t actually believe that that will get free college and pretty much free everything else. Silly useful idiots. Hillary tells them Bernie can’t make that happen but she never exactly explains why, appealing to any small fragment of logic some of them might have. She just says, NahGonnaHappen and dismisses it.

And if you ask me, Gloria Steinem struck a painful nerve with them, because she was exactly right.

But hahahaha on Kerry, FLVoter. Horrid candidate. Actually I think he’s a horrid man, very condescending and elitist, which is amusing, considering he married twice into money. But nevermind. He is the poster child for Limousine Liberals. I’ve wanted to slap his horse face for as long as I can remember. What was the party thinking when they picked him?

My prediction is Hillary will lose NH by single digits. Meanwhile CNN still insists she’s down ‘nearly 30 points’. It would be fun to watch them eat that crow, except they’ll pretend nothing happened.

Well, the oppo dump is supposed to happen after NH on Bernie. We’ll see if that is true. Honestly there’s enough stuff out there to wipe him out in one short day. Of course he’ll whine and attempt to fundraise off of it but it will be stuff he actually did and said.

Bernie so far has had a charmed life. Puppies have been vetted better than he has. The media is not going to do their job when it comes to this kind of stuff so Hillary is going to have to do it for them. Send the oppo to some “Friendly” journalists and see where it goes from there.

Ga I have no doubt the ops will be dropped, what concerns me is the messenger. She is surrounded with casper milquetoast. I have watched Brock on TV and seen him time and again let opportunities to say what needed to be said…..slip by. Fallon is a sweet mild man, well spoken, perhaps too well spoken, but packs little punch. He’s basically kind of lifeless. What she needs is somebody like that Melissa that trump uses. She hits every question and answers it for maximum impact. When she speaks about him, she acts like she really means it. Gratefully she’s no longer wearing the necklace made with gun cartridges. lolol. She’s toned it down but the thing she hasn’t toned down is using face time to fully represent Donald. I personally would not want to debate that woman and I’m not such a bad debater.

I’m with FLVoter on this one and Joan Walsh too. It’s like Bernie’s voters and Bernie himself have to be treated like hothouse flowers who will wilt at the smallest sign of criticism yet Hillary supporters are supposed to come back and vote for someone like Bernie after they have taken all the abuse and name calling from the Bernie Bros. I for one am having none of it. If by some freak chance the media gets this idiot Bernie nominated I’m sitting home. I’m done.

You know, Upps I wonder if a lot of this stuff is not going on underground and you’re not seeing it on TV. I know this is how the GOP used to operate for years. They would do all their stuff with phone calls and flyers and word of mouth and go on TV and be all nicey nicey.

Oh yeah Walsh is right. I saw some of the shit they have tweeted to her. Horrific shit. I captured a few sent to me too. Like calling Hillary a C… you know. (Probably the only word left Donald hasn’t used. Yet). But like I said, you have to adapt your game in order to beat theirs. And of course, if I knew how, I’d be advising Hillary for the big bucks she’s paying these people to come up with……..pretty much not much.

And make no mistake, that generation thinks they are special and deserve special treatment. They score high on Narcisism scale too. Hothouse is right. It will be a pleasure to watch them go to work and meet up with a boss that tells them how special they are not. As you can see, they are so Narcissistic that they actually think it’s justified to take our money to pay for what they want. It’s a whole generation of You Owe Me A Living.

Uppity, I do not disagree with regard to Hillary’s visible staff. It can help to have a charming yet hard-hitting person out front. Carville helped Clinton’s campaign in that regard. I am no fan of Axelrod, but he was effective for Obama. Hillary would be benefitted by having someone whom the press at least respected and was a bit afraid of because he/she could call them on their nonsense and bias.

Joining those whose hearts and minds, like mine, are with our girl, Hillary. May the force be with her — and against Bernie (and Trump and Cruz). I’m really hoping that she actually beats the poll predictions and wins NH, but I’ll be happy if she comes within 10 points of Bernie, a result that she can legitimately call a success. Then onward to NV and SC.

OldCoastie and others – see the above link for results from NH. So far, only 1% of the precincts are in. But, the polls close at 7 PM EDT, so it won’t be long before that site starts putting up results.

I also agree that there’s a wait-and-see and depend-on-presumed-firewalls approach in Hillary’s campaign — it backfired in ’08, and, god forbid, may again. Both approaches assume that the status quo ante will hold, regardless of the preceding event, In fact, that rarely happens if the Bernie wave becomes much larger (and it could, given the large percentage of stupid Millennial voters in the primary), a firewall in NV or SC won’t work to break his momentum. Seeing how CA’s the land of fruit and nuts, a cascading wave of support for Bernie could lose CA for her and that would be a total disaster.

Okay. You have to realize that this is not 2008 no matter how much the press pushes that narrative. Bernie is literally running off minority voters and millennials are not all ultra liberal like they are in Iowa nor are they as white as they are in Iowa. As someone who lives in GA I can tell you that I have already been contacted by the campaign to put up people for Georgia weeks ahead of the primary here. There is a lot going on that is under the radar. The media is trying their hardest to push Bernie over the finish line and if he wins NH they’re going to go over the top with pushing him. However you guys also have to remember too that IA and NH are some of the least favorable states for Hillary. I know it’s frustrating and I too long for people like Carville who told the media to stuff it with their idiocy. The media is never going to like her and her campaign should just deal with it and call the media on their nonsense.

Now for what is being reported out of NH is that voting is heavy in Manchester which is supposedly good news for Hillary and Trump. The number of independents is higher for the GOP than for the Dem side. I guess how much bigger is whether that is good news or not.

Way more independents voted Democrat in NH than republican. That fares well for Bernie. I can’t wait till we get to normal primaries where only Democrats vote. I don’t like the idea that Independents get to vote in my party’s primary. It’s just plain wrong on so many levels.

Bernie got a cease and desist from the American Legion, regarding use of their emblem. His little shits also used a photo of a minister and a child without permission and the photo of a Vet. All parties are furious.

The American Legion has twice complained to Sanders officials since Jan. 22 about the use of the emblem in campaign materials. A Feb. 1 letter from the American Legion obtained by The Associated Press warns that “any further communication about it will be through our trademark attorney in the appropriate forum.”

Ga, I hope you’re right. Seriously. Memories of ’08 haven’t left me yet – and I’m wary of any implication that Hill is the obvious nominee. Most of all, I don’t want her or her campaign to believe it.

It’s true that Bernie is no Obama. But, it’s also true that more Millennials will vote in this election than in ’08. A sizably larger percentage. (And, in 2020, when every single Millennial will have reached voting age, they’ll account for around 40% of the voting population.) And, I’m afraid they’re polled to be overwhelmingly progressive (in the negative sense). They’ll always hate a hardworking, policy-wonk Boomer like Hillary; and they’ll always love a pied piper like Bernie. I effin’ hate Millennials.

NES that “youth vote” is based on one state. But you have to realize too is that for every youth vote Bernie got he lost a ton of votes in other demographics. He lost women, he lost moderates he lost people when it comes to the economy, foreign policy and even his own voters don’t think he could win a general election.

The Youth Vote is in EVERY state. I am telling you, this campaign is in danger if they don’t plan much further ahead. And I do mean MUCH further. And they need to say more to these little shits than It’s Not Gonna Happen. This is a SHITTY answer.

The Youth Vote has cost Hillary a HUGE chunk of the women’s votes. Generally, 50 percent of their population are female. She is tanking in the 18-40. That’s right. 40

These Independents voting in NH primary are probably Libertarians, or people who usually vote Republican, and who want to try to hurt Hillary’s campaign.

NES, hi. I am not convinced that there is such a big Sanders wave as the media would like one to believe. In 2008, Obama won by dominating state primaries in the South, where the proportion of Democratic voters who are Black is 30-40%. By winning 98% of those voters, he made it impossible for Hillary to win those primaries, where she would have needed 70% or so of other ethnicitiy voters. And then he won all the caucuses, by ridiculouy and bogus large margins, due to various chicaneries. Caucuses still worry me, but I certainly see Hillary winning the Southern primaries, and doing well enough in the others. As to my state of CA, we have an open primary this time, which is not good. But I think Hillary has enough support here. She beat Obama by about 15 points last time.

The one state you’re talking about is IA, I’m guessing. In any event, after today, it’ll be NH too. And, then he’ll get more legitimacy the effin’ “bern” influenza will spread to other kids in other states. We’ll see. May the South hold the line for her because the West Coast states are nutty and unreliable (think OR and WA).

NH is a pain in the ass because of the Independent voters being allowed to sully our party votes. So you can’t really judge what a loss means except with exit polls and how accurate are they? Especially since they are conducted by the press anyways.

Hey, William…fellow Californian! I didn’t realize we had an open primary this time around — not good, indeed. CA has enough Repubs with no chance of winning the state, who’ll register as Indys just to vote against Hill. How did the CA Dem party allow this to happen! Political malpractice since it benefits one who never registered as a Democrat until he decided to run.

Well, Upps i heard more Indys voted in the GOP primary this year like indys in 2008 in the Dem primary were 42% and this year the indys have gone down to 39% in the Dem primary in NH. Though even 39% if they all vote for the bernout candidate means he doesn’t have to get many Dems to win in NH.

As the mother of a millennial I can tell you that they’re not all like the bernouts.

Had the election been 1-2 weeks later, the Bots would’ve swarmed…they were just starting to colonize people’s minds at the point of the primary. After that, it was sickeningly Bot-infested in every large population center in CA.

Ga — sorry for the broadside against Millennials. I’m sure there’re many exceptions. Yours are a testament to sound-parenting, I’m sure. Most Boomer parents of these kids have not been good parents, letting their kids grow up entitled and feckless (a bad combination).

I hope Hillary gets some sleep, so she is rested & ready and hits SC with a bang. Bernie looks like death warmed over, but of course it doesn’t matter since he’s a man. I got into trouble for saying this before, but I still think he’s too old. I don’t get the ageist argument. Not everyone should be president. If you had the most important corporation in the world, the running of which involves world finance and world security, and from which you will be on call 24/7, would you hire someone who is 75 years old for a 4 year contract, with the option for another 4? To be an employee or consultant, sure, but to be the top person?

Let’s pray the Bernbots don’t try to make a viral video (along the lines of the “Yes, we can” one) following NH. I’m suffering PTSD just recalling the day that Will-i-am video went viral and people I once respected became idiots before my eyes.

I think there’s a lot of truth that the boomers and older gen x’ers have spoiled our kids. I think for some of us, we wanted to raise our kids the opposite of how we were raised. That being said, I raised my own millennial to be feminist, pro Hillary, and a very kind and helptful person.

The thing is though, Bernie looks and acts much older than 74 — one could be forgiven for thinking he’s 80. I know plenty of 74 year olds who seem much, much younger than he. I do think, though, that he cultivates and revels in that cranky ol’ gramps act, which adds years to his image. And, the kids are eating it up…go figure.

NES, its true she is only 6 years younger, but there is a big difference between 69 and 75, the aging process really ramps up in the 70s. It seems to me that the older you get, the faster you age; and also, that women stay sharper and are longer lived. Look at Reagan, for example. Of course, I am swayed by my own parents experiences. Both my parents took extremely good care of themselves, very healthy, active lifestyles. My Dad still looked like a movie star in his 70s (black hair with hardly any gray, no wrinkles), but his alzheimers kicked in at 75 and he died at 83. My mom will be 86 this year, still sharp and active as ever, cooks, cleans, gardens, walks, travels, works out with weights.

Another point is that Hillary has released her medical records, and Bernie gave out a copy of a note from his doctor. I think our candidates should have thorough physicals. Think of the time and money that is spent on them, just when they’re running. We should know what we’re getting for our time and $.`

NES, thanks. I remembered it being more convincing. But–and this does not help us this time–after that Hillary won convincingly in OH, PA, MI, FL (the latter two truncated primaries), even TX primary. She actually did better as the campaign progressed. But yes, CA Democratic voters have been known to go for the more “Left” candidate. I know Jerry Brown beat Carter in ’76, Ted Kennedy beat him in ’80. I think Hart won in ’84, maybe Brown even beat Clinton in ’92. I do think that the Sanders bubble is very ephemeral, but I guess we’ll have to see and hope that it deflates. The media will not help, of course.

I just made out another check to Hillary’ campaign, and it made me feel good to do it tonight.

Oh NO! CA is going to be Open? What is this! All states should have primaries for the two parties only. Period. If you want to vote in a Primary, join a G’damned party! This is bullshit. You kNOW Republicans LOVE this stuff. It’s grist for their cheating mills.

Ok exit poll is 41% voters in D party are Indys. But the actual number of Indy’s that voted, the majority voted in D primary. Waiting to see the number again. It was high, though. Of course I’m looking at horrid CNN, where the hell else can I go. They are bashing the shit out of hillary.

Ugh, he just eked out a win in Manchester – it was close. She beat him in Concord and one other precinct. Not looking good, I think, because Manchester was important to her. Still, I’m no expert on NH precincts.

Trump won Manchester. Interesting that Rubio is so far stuck in 5th place.

I hope everyone checks out the Daily Beast link I posted upthread. It calls out Bernie for the fraud he is, and details his support of the wasteful F35 stealth bomber. I’d like to know how you can get more “establishment” than that.

The good news out of all of this is the candidates that get fluffed by the media i.e. Rubio go down hard. It will be interesting to see if there is any examination of Bernie and his past after New Hampshire or if the continual fluffing continues to the detriment of the entire party. Because you know if nobody does it now should by some freak chance he end up as the nominee the GOP is going to carve him up like a Thanksgiving turkey in short order.

NES these young idjits are complacent, because they didn’t have to work for the rights they have. And they are too busy with their smart phones to understand they need to be vigilant or they will continue to whittle away at those rights.

I honestly don’t know what to do first 1) build a bomb shelter in anticipation of what Trump is going to bring upon us or 2) start looking for a way to hide my investments and savings so that I don’t end up poor supporting a bunch of lazy Special Darlings.

OK everybody…deep breath. Remember a few months ago when all the pundits were predicting that Hillary could lose both Iowa and NH? Well, she didn’t. We always knew these two states would be the hardest for her to win.

Tonight the “burn it all down guys” won. Let them have their moment;we ,to our benefit and that of our blood pressure, will have a beverage of our choice. Bernie was just on proving Sweet Sue’s point about his ego ( he went on and on and on..now that’s boring) and soon the Bernie Bots will be feeling a burn of a different kind..like when their butts skid on the pavement in Nevada and SC.

Me,I’m doing my Alfred E. Newman impersonation..”What ,me worry?” If Hillary loses Nevada or SC…THEN I’ll worry and rain fire down on her staff. Until then, we are not the people who burn things down;we’re the ones who build things up. The fat Lady has not sung;the end is not yet near.

I still say she’s not running a lousy campaign. Sorry NES. Sanders got like 69% of gun owners. Hill’s been very vocal about the NRA. He also had a majority of the Independents. (Operation chaos anyone? Anyone? Karl Rove?) They split the Dems. So they split up that tiny state’s measly delegates. She added some supers and she’s way ahead.

Sister not one candidate who every won anything waited for the Press’ permission to win. What you’re saying here is it’s hopeless because Hillary doesn’t have the media’s permission to win.

I both agree and disagree.

The media has been actively running against her. Every thing they say about her, even when they are forced to acknowledge some fabulous thing she’s done, they lead with a smear, and end with a smear.Hillary cured cancer today, but that’s because polls show 99% of Americans don’t like dying from cancers. Hillary said she and Bill are happy, but since she’s untrustworthy [and we won’t mention it’s because we have spent 25 years beating that drum with no evidence], we can’t be sure if they are really happy.

The day of the Iowa caucus, MSNBC actively campaigned on the air for Sanders. I really think they should have to formally register as a Super PAC for him. How does anyone overcome this drumbeat, every day, every show host, on the station where liberals go to get their news?

Brassy Rebel said:

Boring? Stale? It’s a campaign for POTUS, not a freakin’ reality show. Hillary is not an entertainer, she’s a policy wonk.

Unfortunately for America, this year is a reality show.

Chris Matthews said yesterday that she’s never been on offense, only defense, and you can’t win like that. I hate to say, but I agree. I just don’t see how she ever gets the ball. Agree with Upps–she has to intercept and RUN. Everything everyone said before me is true. She is treated differently by the media. #ClintonRules. She is not allowed to do shit.

Perhaps her strategy should be a blow out. Fuck trying to win the presidency and go on one grand Fuck You Tour. Tell the people all the shit she has held back for all these years. Tell America exactly why we can’t have nice things. E. Warren says the game is rigged? E. Warren has never tried running for prez while Hillary.

NES: No, the Kossaks are not in Hill’s corner. That diarist is. Pro-Hillary diarists are still an endangered species there. As I type, I am suspended because of my “inappropriate content.” I dared to disagree and now I’m in time-out.

After all the self-righteous, Bernie-loving fauxrage over Steinem and Albright this week (because they’re dried up hags whose 15 minutes are over), I have determined there is no War on Women. We are committing suicide.

I also sent another donation to Hillary tonight. It felt oddly and deliciously gratifying.

How can we get in contact with the Clinton folks to talk about messaging and getting more vocal media combatants out in front of the campaign? I hope that Hillary goes for Bernie’s balls at the next debate. She needs to say that Bernie is against Wall Street when he’s not voting to deregulate it. Bernie stands with Flint but has no problem voting to send toxic waste from Vermont and Maine to a small poor Latino town in Texas. Bernie thinks the USA has become too prone to using military force but has no problem with everyday citizens being armed to the teeth with guns. Bernie is anti-establishment but he has served in the establishment Congress since 1991. He voted against the Iraq war resolution but not the military industrial complex in his home state. Bernie runs as a Democrat but has never gone out to raise money for Democratic candidates or taken young taken under his wing to nurture and help take up the Democrtic Socialist mantel. He will threaten to sue Wikipedia if they post his official campaign emblem but uses the emblems of LVC, AARP, Planned Parenthood, and the American Legion on mailers without their permission or endorsement. If she did that during the next debate, his head would explode!!

She has gone on offense with Bernie, check out the last debate. She has WON every frickin debate. He looks like a deer in the headlights when asked about FP. Same answer over and over, they mock Rubio, but cranky Bernie does the same thing, except he YELLS when he does it. Oh Bernie, he’s so authentic, “I love his message!” If Hillary says “good morning” then CNN gathers a “panel” debating for hours why she hates nights. Michael Moore just tweeted that he’s glad Hillary is supporting Flint, but he sure hated seeing the man (Bill) standing next to her who killed Flint.

My lone advice to Hillary at this point is this. Women under the age of 50 DO NOT GIVE A CRAP about women’s rights or issues. They think it is all sewn up and no longer relevant. Steinman, Albright do not mean a damn thing to the “special snowflakes” and their mothers who are OFFENDED when called out for dropping the ball on this.

BTW, watching how large the divide, I can’t help but think the two people happiest tonight are neither Sanders or Trump.

I think it is Biden/Warren who are waiting in the wings for the “brokered” convention.

95% of this is the media’s fault, of course, but they’re not going to change, so we have to somehow win despite them. They have won every election in the last twenty years for themselves. They wanted Bush over Gore, and made Gore look like an idiot. They wanted Bush over Kerry, and they allowed clearly lying Swifboaters to get on air with them every day. They wanted Obama last time. I don’t know whom they want this time, what they mostly want if for Hillary to lose.

The extrapolation from New Hampshire is of course absurd. NH is completely unrepresentative. Even worse, it is one of those awful open primary states, a terrible undemocratic practice. How many Republicans crossed over? How many independents who are really right-wing types, chose to vote for Sanders? The media doesn’t even bring up the question.

The one slightly positive thing is that finally people are going to have to take a look at Sanders. This usually happens when someone wins a primary and is touted as having a real chance to be nominated. This was a thoroughly unpleasant experience today, and the media will make it worse in the next week. It is very hard tor Hillary to gain traction when the mecia mocks and criticizes every move or statement she makes. They are thoroughly evil people, because they have no ideals and no moral compass. I think that Hillary must just count on the long-time Democratic voters to pull her through. That, and not letting Sanders continue to get away with making fantasy promises to the electorate. States with much better demographics and closed primaries will be a different story. But it is going to be a grind, at least for some time. Every delegate counts, remember that.

That’s okay voting. These Bernie Bros and Girlz are indeed the OWS types. They didn’t want to actually sleep in a pup tent in Zucchini Park for weeks, so now they get to be a part of the “REVOLUTION”! for merely supporting Bernie! All the leftie creds without any of that protesting hassle, it’s a win-win!

I don’t think Hillary’s campaign needs a major overhaul. In fact, that’s the worst thing she could do at this point. However, the campaign could use a few tweaks:

1. They need to figure out a way to fight the media. Some of this is OUR job. But on Hillary’s end, I’d like to see more of her surrogates on TV and they need to be more aggressive. If they can also be entertaining, that’s even better. This election is a reality show and she needs spokespeople who can play to that audience. (And it IS an audience, not an electorate in the traditional sense.) Which brings me to my next point…

2. Hillary needs to hire someone with a Sesame Street or Bill Nye The Science Guy ability to take her wonky, complicated messages and put them into a format that the average ten-year-old can understand. Does she know anybody at PBS Kids or Disney? Someone with a background in education might also be effective. If Hillary wants the average American to understand why her economic policy is better than Bernie’s, then it’s time to bring in the cartoon characters and the Muppets. Or get one of the Kardashians to do an ad about it. I’m not joking. I wish I was.

Jens, you are probably right. Hillary is really an intellectual, just not a pretentious one. But she explains carefully why Sanders’ plans won’t work, and no one seems to understand, or even care much. I do think that these reality shows, along with most of television, has corrupted the analytic faculties of most people. The ones who watch these debates look for flubs, or demeanor, or “gotcha” points. Not actually a discussion of the policy matters. And of course the mecia has its own agenda, which does not incude actually discussing that Sanders could not possibly do anything he is promising, since the Republican dominated and completely gerrymandered Congress would never let him. It’s all nonsense, and yet it gets him votes from people who don’t want to actuallycomprehend any of it.

I agree that a major shakeup would look like panic. The media would love that. She would benefit from adding a hard-hitting yet friendly spokesman who can appeal to the middle-class voter.

These Special Darlings are the product of the Progressive movement that is basically a White Boy Movement that has given lip service but no results to Women and minorities for decades. They use women and minorities as Useful Idiots when in fact their job is to make the sandwiches and do all their grunt work for them. The Progressive movement has not only ruined my party in the same way the far right has ruined the R party, but they take chances apiece ruining the country. I am sick of all of them.

I hate the progressive movement because I have seen it for what they are long ago. They are White Dude Nation. They showed women this in 2008 and the current young breed of “Progressive” is simply more In Your Face about it. In plain English, my party isn’t worth spit to me anymore, and quite frankly, the young women “Progressives” are screwed. They just don’t know it yet. And you know what? I don’t want to help them amymore. I have no respect for them for they have no respect for themselves. One day they will have to start what the second wave handed them on a silver platter….all over again. I hope I live to watch their struggle because I shall enjoy it. Meanwhile, I am NEVER going to need an abortion, so I have decided, Fuck Them. God knows, they tweeted those words to me enough times in the past month, along with calling me a cunt. So Fuck Them. They will get what they deserve. They will get to make the sandwiches for the White Dude Revolution, because EVERYONE knows that under Socialism, women go NOWHERE. Screw em. I don’t care what happens to any of them, because they are the Product of the Progressive Movement that used to secretly hate them, and soon will publicly hate them.

Meanwhile these little bloodsuckers can come up with constant donations to Bernie Sanders, but they can’t save money for a college loan payment. They aren’t kidding me. They want you, me and everyone else to support them in the way they plan to become accustomed. Well, they can kiss my ass. I owe them NOTHING and I will give them nothing.

I will fight for Hillary but I won’t get a heart attack for her, that’s for SURE. And no matter what happens, I don’t give a shit anymore what lands on SCOTUS, since none of it will affect my life. And after I vote for Hillary in the primary, I am going to change my affiliation to Independent and free myself from this horrid party.

I’ve seen governor Jennifer Granholm, speak for Hillary on TV and I thought she was good. Cory Booker would be another one. But who decides who goes on these shows? Would CNN or MSNBC nix someone who they thought was a good spokesperson?

I agree that young women do not care about having their rights taken away. It was the same in 2008. Obama rolled them under the bus and they just took it with the Stupak Amendment. But like you say there is no convincing them no matter how much you talk about it. So forget about them and move on.

Trump did a number on Bernie last night completely ridiculing him. Bernie it seems has no answer to what Trump has been saying.

Yes, Uppity. And those Firebaggers won’t be happy until they demonize and destroy every last 2nd Wave feminist so they can completely erase every single gain we have made.
Geraldine Ferraro
Germaine Grier
Madeleine Albright
Gloria Steinem

I find it interesting how many of pro Hillary people on twitter seem shocked by the bias coverage of msnbc and Rachel et al. Did they not see it in 08? I dare not mention anything because they might turn on you if you suggest such a thing. But interesting how when it’s their candidate, they don’t mind as much.

I love Sophie’s line: There is no war on women; we are committing suicide.

I would just remind everyone that this is a marathon not a sprint. Believe me, if she were winning every contest the media would be bashing “the coronation.” And those “independents” are not GOP for the most part. They are Socialist Workers Party and Greens. Lots of those in both NH and Vermont. Sanders once was active in SWP so it’s hardly surprising that invited to vote for socialist in Dem primary, they accepted the invitation. They’re very activist and can’t believe their good fortune at being welcomed into a major party. Neither Hillary nor her campaign made those decisions. If she brings on better attack dogs or goes on the attack more aggressively herself, that’s fine with me. But these people are not gping to switch their vote. Luckily there are many upcoming states where they can’t eff with our nominating process.

And yeah, it’s pretty telling that two con men won their respective NH primaries.

Hillary was gracious and classy in defeat last night. She is always a class act. That’s one reason why #I’mWithHer and will be “until the last dog dies.”

Many pro-Hillary web sites showed class too by congratulating Sanders on his victory. Meanwhile, his supporters were their usual crude selves–acting like barnyard animals on social media and even at the victory party by booing Hillary. This behaviour is starting to get noticed and will doom them eventually.

Sophie, that’s fine with me. They can make all the sandwiches they want and erase anything they want. No skin off my nose. I got mine. I truly mean it when I say Fuck The Whole lot of Them. I don’t care if they lose it all. They deserve it. Completely. For not being vigilant. For being totally and NASTILY ungrateful for having rights handed to them that they didn’t have to work for. For thinking they know everything when they know nothing. For losing it all bit by bit. If they ever get off their asses and work, they will find out how it feels to be treated like dog shit in the workplace and they deserve every single thing they get there. They will deserve being ignored and marginalized and treated like the dumb shits they really are. They deserve it because they are just plain morons destined to get the shit kicked out of them by The Bros, both in and out of the home, with nobody coming to their defense. They will hand the shitpile they created to their daughters and raise sons just like the multiple bros they tried to stay married to. THey will wake up one morning and shout WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? and I will be old but not dead, and I will laugh and laugh and laugh at them.

They deserve socialism and not one bit of any of this will harm me. And I don’t care.

Rebel if Eleanor Roosevelt showed up at one of their rallies, they would boo her too. They are simply barn animals and their parents raised them that way. Now, as their parents age and their nest egg for retirement is being sucked down by the monsters they created, they deserve what they get too.

And this is what happens when you let extreme left take over schools. These beasts were created with the help of Bill Ayers. The liberal education system embraced that murderous terrorist and avowed marxist with open arms. His books on education sold millions and now, there you have it. Meanwhile the batshit crazy right thinks the only problem in schools is prayer and killing off Darwin.

And I’ll tell you this, and you can smack me all you want. Mr. Rogers was a fucking idiot who convinced a lot of little shits that they were “Special” when they are not. PLAY PLAY PLAY all DAY DAY DAY! And this Entitled thought process has been passed on, on steroids. We are witnessing what happens when EVERYBODY thinks they are Special. When everybody is Special, NOBODY is Special anymore. And in Real Life it is NOT always a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.

Upps I think that is why Hillary says we need to get back to the center in this country. Truly I think the “silent majority” is people like us who are sick of the nuts on the left and the right. People who don’t want some kind of fundamentalist theocracy modeled after Iran from the right or the fascism of Trump or socialism espoused by the likes of Bernie. What is Bernie’s response to Trump’s accusation that Bernie wants to hand the country away for free?

I think that Hillary should just go along and express her positions, and what she would do as President. If the media doesn’t like it, who cares; they don’t like anything she does. If the voters think that Sanders’ empty promises are preferable, then they will choose him, and they will not get one iota of what he promised, whether because he loses, or because the Republicans will never bring any of it to the House floor. Fooled again.

Hillary wants to be President, and she would make a great one. She should just run in that mode, not listen to the endless media criticism. Gore listened, and kept changing his approach, to no avail. If people recognize what a President looks and sounds like, they will vote for her. If they are too addicted to reality show faux drama, they will do something else, and regret it later, per usual.

A question for everyone: If Hillary goes all-out negative against Sanders, what are the chances that he leads a third party run? What are the chances that he does so, regardless, because of vanity and his basic refusal to ever concede anything? Can Hillary win if there is a third party run by Sanders from the Left? This is the trickiest part of the campaign strategy.

Sophie, thank you. You boldly go and find the most thoughtful and interesting articles and opinion pieces.
Apparently, Bernie and his fans are the Democratic Party’s answer to the know nothing philosophy of Republican conservatives.
I wonder what Susan Jacoby thinks of “feel the Bern?”
Have you read “The Age of American Unreason?”
Jacoby is pretty chummy with Bill Moyers, so, maybe she, too, feels the Bern’ That would disappoint me.

Hillary can hit Sanders hard with his own stances. He keeps talking about his vote against the Iraq war resolution. Fine, then explain why you wanted the F-35, which has been a boondoggle, built in your home state. Shouldn’t you have had the conscience to pull the plug on that one Bernie. Imagine how many college scholarships and free tuition you could have provided with the money spent on a plane no one wanted. Hey Bernie, you feel for the people of Flint but not the people of Sierra Blanca TX when you decided to ship nuclear waste from VT and ME down there an in the backyard of a primarily poor latino community. I guess it was because you only want the snow in VT to glow by moonlight during prime ski season and F_ _K a downtrodden TX border town!!

Uppity is right. Any young woman who thinks that a 74 year old man with “white privilege” is going to give a shit about you, your reproductive rights, your healthcare, is a stupid ______ (rhymes with “bunt”)!!

I am reasonably happy that Trump won the NH primary, and then attacked Sanders. No one has attacked Sanders up until now. Oh, I think that Trump is very dangerous, but so are all of the Republicans, except maybe Kasich, who is just a reasonably sane hard-Right person. The threat of Trump should immensely scare every Democrat. And maybe it will get through to some of them that if you want to stop Trump, you have to nominate Hilary, because Sanders’ little papier-mache campaign will be torn apart in a national election.

William, since Sanders’ campaign looks and feels like a vanity project, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he ran as an Independent and, yes, that would hand the Presidency over to whichever extremist the Republicans nominate.
But Bernie wouldn’t care: he’d go down in History as heir to Upton Sinclair’s great cause. Why, someday, PBS might do an hour long special on him.

I’m pretty sure that’s why the party let him run as a D. To avoid a third party run. But you’re right, Sue, he’ll probably do it anyway. He enjoys rebel-rousing. It’s the only thing he’s done all his miserable life and that is why he couldn’t earn a living or become anything. He lived in a dirt floor shack because he was a lazy bastard with ideas that he should be taken care of by others. Will he smoked dope and came up with more dim ideas. And it’s what he’s done ever since. He attracts young people who are just like him. They are angry. They are angry because they are expected to do what everybody before them did. Get a job. Or go to college and then get a job and pay your loan off. Or Get a job and go to night school.Stop paying for lattes every day and stop buying every bright shiny object that glares in your vain and shallow face. Become an electrician. We need more of them. Or join fucking army. But.Get.A.Job. No, it won’t be a manager’s job because you don’t know shit. Face that and go actually learn some shit. Go make your way in life like everybody else has to do. Nobody owes you shit. For this, they are angry because complaining takes less energy than working. So socialism looks wonderful to them. Until the day they are FORCED to get a job and pay 60% of THEIR paycheck to the government and then the light bulb will go off in their previously empty heads.

Well,so much for the coronation;it’s still “Bros before ‘hos” just like ’08.
We know this dance and all the attendant language. If Hillary goes negative they’ll label her “shrill”.

I would suggest the old “Colombo” tactic..not in your face but..”Oh,by the way ..” Lowers the opponents’ guard and allows for more direct questioning w/out looking mean.

As to the media,Hillary’s going to have to ask the needed questions herself and if the moderators/media object just say politely…”Well, you all haven’t been asking these questions and I don’t know who selects the questions from the audience, but they haven’t been allowed to ask these questions either and we need to know the answer to these questions of ANY person who wants to be our president.” ( Calls out the media;sides w/the people;exposes Bernie for the lightweight he is.)

Optically she needs more YOUNG women of color speaking on her behalf;again using this same tactic. Also talking up what Hillary has done for women and children not only in this country but around the world. Brian Fallon did this great thing once when he was asked a BS question from Wolf on CNN. he basically said…” I don’t know why you’re asking me this question. Asked and answered but if you want a review here’s my response. ” ( Calls out the media for their repeated focus on Hillary bashing and gets the facts back out there).

There are all kinds of ways to reveal the truth w/out going all Trump on people ( hard for trained lawyers to do this;as they’re trained to go for the throat).
Having worked as a school psychologist for 26 years,I’ve learned all kinds of ways to…as Emily Dickinson said..” Tell the truth,but tell it slant.” Humor works well and, if I may be so sexist, men know how to do full on confrontation;they don’t tend to know how to do “slant”..throws them off their game. Except for Colombo,of course.

Hillary’s a smart woman,but like many smart women;she sometimes gets surprised by how nasty people are towards her. She freezes a bit ( May be latent Midwestern training/upbringing. Ask me how I know) but she’s also a quick learner.

Again,still not worried until/if she loses Nevada or NC.Also went into my savings to send her some $ because I still believe ..and hers is the future I believe is real;not Bernie’s.

Back in the 1970s, when both men were still alive, William F. Buckley said of Hunter S. Thompson that Thompson “elicits the same kind of admiration one would feel for a streaker at Queen Victoria’s funeral”.

He did get 69% of the gun owners though. I’ m wondering now if the NRA was running a stealth camoaign against Hillary in rural New Hampshire on Sanders’ behalf. They’ve done this for him in Vermont in the past against candidates they don’t like. It allows him to stay above the fray and keep his hands clean–all while benefitting from the gun lobby’s money and effort. POS.

I don’t think Hillary’s emphasis on hard work is working for her with the youngsters. I can’t get a kid around here to mow my front lawn for $10 (prolly 15 minutes worth of pushing the mower around)…. Hard Work is antithetical. Seems Bernie was pretty much a bum until he got elected mayor. Even after he had a child to support. Geesh!

And because they are such special snowflakes, she needs to say she “believes in them” as that will shine their hinies more….

Coastie you are so right. Hard work is NOT in this generation’s vocabulary. But they DO want you to work hard because they want your money to support them. All this while they call you the most vile of names.

Good suspicion, Rebel. A lot of the Indy’s in open primary states are there to do the bidding of shitheads like Rush Limbaugh. They are instructed to register as Democrats or vote as Indy’s in the Democratic primary. He did that in 2008 and it IS being done now in various venues. I have links but I’m sure you believe me so I won’t go look for them. The idea is to get Bernie to win so they can vet the shit out of him and show him for the Trojan Horse for the CPUSA he really is.

There is going to be no revolution because Bernie can’t even get the nonvoters and “disaffected” to show up to vote in the primaries.

We can never underestimate the power of the word “FREE”. If what FREE he is offering isn’t useful to the right size demographic, he will make up a FREE promise that is. It’s how they hook people. He not only cannot deliver, he doesn’t plan on it anyways. He wants to be in the WH and create Revolt upon America. If he were ever to be elected, the stock market would crash in 24 hours. And anybody who thinks that’s not going to affect them is a flaming fool. That’s a path to Depression. And that would be fine with Bernie. Socialism always has an easy route in a Depression.

Eff! Trump is polling at NH rates in NV. He seems unstoppable. I dread his rude and vulgar jabs against Hill in the General Election. How will we contain our desire to pummel him within an inch of his life?

This morning I was accused of being a troll on a Hillary site because I thought election time was not when we should make a push for the ERA….. the ERA really??? We have Democrats attacking the nominee, Democratic women not thinking that being female is a ‘thing’ and we are going to fight for the dead in the water ERA!!! Another person actually went to my facebook page and said that I ‘didn’t look like a Hillary supporter”…. This is new for me. I was kicked off DailyKos and Talk Left in ’08 for being against “The Annointed”, but a troll against Hillary. It is the end of times, better run off and get my ashes so I am ready.

Very sad news today about the death of Dan Hicks. He was really a one of a kind musician and performer, and brought smiles and pleasure to so many people over the decades. He was doing concerts despite his health problems in the last couple of months. Radio station KCSN at 88.5 and streaming on the web (whatever that means), is going to have a two-hour tribute to him on Sunday at 1-3pm, for anyone who wants to hear. I did get to see him a couple of times in the last few years, with a great duo of backup singers. I wish that I had seen him in the great years of ’72/’73, with the incomparable accompanying talents of Maryann Price, Naomi Ruth Eisenberg, and Sid Page on violin.

Cheer up honora. I had a hillary person on twitter read one of my satire remarks, take it literally, declare me a Republican, block me and then broadcast from her account that i must be blocked. Then I got attacked by other tweeters, but unfortunately for the unhinged moron who didn’t have an IQ big enough to comprehend satire, the others were more intelligent and decided not to block me. Then I blocked her, figuring they would tell her to unblock me. I don’t want to hear from her ever.

People take shit wrong on the internet a lot. Especially if they aren’t too bright. xo

So here’s another thought ;next time Bernie talks about not having a Super Pac,Hillary could say. “Of course Senator Saunders doesn’t need a Super Pac,the media isn’t vetting him and the Republicans are doing his dirty work.”

Hadn’t thought about the NRA working for Bernie,Brassy. Feeling a tad naive..not millennial naive;just the regular kind..more easily remedied.

Just curious if anyone has the 411 on Michael Nutter, the Philadelphia mayor. Just saw him on CNN. Seems smart and serious. Apparently quite the corruption fighter in Phillie. Might make a good VP candidate for Hill.

It’d be great if she had a Latino VP pick. Problem is Juliano Castro is way too young and inexperienced. Who else is there in the next gen category? (My personal view is that she should pick the Latino moderate Repub guv of NV — that tix would be da bomb.)

Run with a Repub? NES love ya but she could never do that! I like Booker too. Don’t know of any Latinos. The old mayor of LA was trying to climb that ladder…governor to pres….but he lost that dream with a TV reporter and a bottle of wine, LOL.

Clyburn said on CNN today that he was going to endorse a candidate soon. He mentioned concerns for the current “trickle down” economy and for the colleges that serve S Carolina communities [i.e. free tuition?]. This leads me to believe he’s leaning toward Bernie. As for Sharpen, it was reported that he was concerned about how Bernie’s proposals would be paid for and implemented. Does this mean he’s leaning towards Clinton? I guess we’ll know soon enough.

I am really amazed that Bernie Sanders has been able to get any women to vote for him yelling income inequality. Income inequality has been going on for women since forever!! Women have always made less than men. It is just so awesome that Bernie Sanders has recognized this income inequality sh!t since I guess it never existed until men felt slighted. Welcome to the club and really shame on you Bernie. Why haven’t you done something about it? You’ve been a politics for like 30 years or more? Or was it when it just affected women it didn’t matter?

At this point if the next generation can’t see what Bernie Sanders is promising them is impossible to deliver (Sorry but I am not willing to hand over all the hard earned money I have made for their freebies and I suspect a lot of others aren’t willing to either) then they deserve him. My family escaped from a horrible situation before, we can do it again. we can start over again.

Clyburn has said he can’t see endorsing AGAINST CBC. They are endorsing Hillary. Ergo, he will too. Also, Obama has made it clear he wants Hillary. Clyburn won’t defy Obama. His beef was with Bill. Says he’s got a good relationship with Hillary.

I find the BS Campaign dishonest. He promises everything but is incapable of delivering anything. And he’s never questioned about it. If his ideas are so wonderful during all his time in politics why hasn’t he been in the limelight before? Overnight he becomes the old angry white guy messiah. No vetting at all. All these college kids haven’t even looked into his background. I seriously fear for the future of our country. On one hand you have the reality tv candidate Donald Trump and on the other you have Socialist Bernie Sanders. How did we get here?

Haven’t been around for awhile but I had to comment on Sady Doyle’s essay. Which blew me away.

Personally I’m sick of the Hillary bashing all over the net from people who [you would think] know better. And, of course, Doyle is on the mark–that what we’re witnessing is raw sexism attempting to diminish a woman of experience, stature and brilliance against an unvetted, cranky ideologue, who is being touted as noble and pure.

I’ve always liked Bernie Sanders but I find his supporters absolutely insufferable. I’m trusting, as well as strongly believe that Hillary Clinton can hold the line with her years of service to the poor, the disenfranchised and people of all stripes and colors. There’s a reason she’s been voted the most admired person over the last 20 years. She’s walked the walk for millions of people here and around the world.

But it’s clear now that the talk of a ‘coronation’ was simply the first step in bringing her down. And that’s what this is: a take down.

We cannot let the happen! Cheers to all of you in the fight ahead. Yes, this is what women sound like when they stop smiling.

The Hillary VP choice is a real quandary. I would prefer Sherrod Brown, but I don’t think he wants it, at least from what he said on TV several months ago to Matthews. There is no ideal choice. Castro didn’t impress me that much four years ago. Very few Democratic officelholders now. My hunch is that the Republican canddiate will pick Kasich as VP, because of Ohio and stability. Would Hillary want Crist of FL? I think she needs someone who would be looked upon as presidential material. Anyone who fits that category? Hickenlooper of Colorado not exciting but probably doesn’t hurt the ticket. You just don’t want a controversial pick who can be used by the media to call into question Hillary’s judgment. I am not a bit Tim Kaine fan, but he would probably be acceptable in that regard.

Uppity, I sent you an essay in mail, in case you missed it. I will write another one before too long, as well.

NES, I highly respect your intelligence and political savvy, but I don’t think that HIllary can afford to take a gamble with the VP choice. I think she needs someone whom people could be comfortable with as a potential president, and not someone who might possibly allow the media to question her judgment in choosing him or her. Thus I would prefer Sherrod Brown, though he has said in the past that he has no interest in VP. Hickenlooper of CO and Kaine of VA do not excite me, but they probably bring no negatives. Maybe there is someone else out there, maybe Brassy Rebel’s choice of Klobuchar is a good one. Someone who identifies as a Democrat, is not chosen for ethnicity, and who has some gravitas. Also, my hunch is that Kasich is going to be on the Republican ticket because of Ohio (they missed a chance to choose Portman last time), and because he doesn’t scare the average voter. So some geographical aspects of our choice might be important, too.

William, I wasn’t serious about Sandoval and Hillary — was just saying it’d be my personal choice. (And I left that link for dearest imust just to yank her chain.). I know it wouldn’t be feasible for a party’s nominee to cross the aisle in that way. (It would be fun and revolutionary tho’!) At heart, I’m a no-labels type, and sick of the extremism in both parties.

OK,another idea from reading the posts here. Maybe the next time Bernie brings up Goldman Sachs speeches;Hillary could make reference to Bernie’s campaign’s illegal use of the AARP and Conservation league logos ( wasn’t there another someone referenced here? A lawsuit/cease and desist?) It’s one thing to characterize oneself as a socialist but another to engage in copyright infringement.

Upps,glad you’re taking a break. Pretty sure Hillary wouldn’t support you having a heart attack on her behalf..or even a bad day for that matter. We all have developed our own ways of “dealing” w/the emotional roller coaster ride;we’ve had plenty of practice being seven years in the Wilderness. During the Bush years I used to remind myself that I’d survived both Nixon and Reagan..of course those two were moderates compared to today’s rodeo clowns.

I’m going to go hang out w/ the Third Graders where I volunteer..that always lifts my spirits and puts things in perspective.

Prolix has a good post up at Widdershins about the exit polls from Vermont. Looks like the Dem vote was equal, what pushed Bernie over was the Independents, a lot of which were Rand-ians left without a home after Rand pulled out. Prolix says that ABC is the only major media outlet to come out with this story. The tide is turning. I think Bernie’s revolution is going to go the way of OWS.

Trixta, thanks for the link. I was wondering about Sanders wife. Everyone check out the article. I know, Politico stinks, but this one is is pretty good, and shows what Bernie would do to the country if he had his way. The article actually points out how some of Hillary’s college plan would address some of the problems with colleges.

You guys have got to read Shakesville’s new article about how Bernie Sanders himself and his “bros” are selling the mem that he somehow will be able to accomplish more than a black man or a woman could as president. Below is an actual poster that some of his rabid flock must have dreamt up. I warn you, please put down any food or liquids before gazing on the poster in the lower half of the article as it involves Dumbledore, Gandalf, Obi Wan Kenobi and yes, Bernie Sanders himself :

I was standing in line at the grocery store. There was Trump and his wife on the cover of Us Weekly. I didn’t pick it up but the cover said it was an article by his wife, (forget her name) something like “The Donald Only I Know”. Then under the photo the caption was “Donald Trump and his First Lady”. First Lady? They’ve already made him POTUS! And by the way, she’s not his first….third maybe?

Third definitely, Imust. We talk about vetting Bernie (which is just beginning, as in detesting JFK and Bernie’s romance with Castro) but the oppo research on The Donald is even more deadly. Not sure why the GOP establishment is holding back but the roof is going to fall in at some point. The Donald’s 4 admitted bankruptcies is just the tip of the iceberg. The Trumpster may not have a political background but he definitely has a history, as in public and verifiable. And not pretty.

Will it matter to the hordes that ignore his ongoing vulgar display? I don’t know. Hasn’t so far but the man is incredibly thin-skinned. Once it starts pouring out, it will be a toxic lava flow. Then we’ll see how the public and the man reacts.

flvoter, Bernie is talking about the income inequality between the very wealthy and the rest of us. I don’t recall hearing him speaking about gender pay inequality, except when prompted and as a checkbox.

I’m not liking this debate. The moderators are letting Bernie run the show. I can’t stand that he just pontificates on with NO plan, and Hillary gives detailed plans and then he just repeats his speech.

WHAT HAPPENED to Hillary? He says the most outrageous things, like basically she didn’t care about the children coming across Mexico ALONE. SHE HAS DEVOTED HER LIFE TO CHILDREN! Why didn’t she say that? Why is she letting him trash her?

Her closing statement was strong. But the rest of the time he was able to ALWAYS get the last word, ALWAYS. The mods would say when Hillary would respond to one of his attacks, “ok, Sec last response” and then he would get red faced and wag his finger at the mods and then butt in and say something else. Really bad moderating. Really bad.

agree that the moderators should have kept his insane ramblings in line. But I thought Hillz killed it. So did hubs. He kept saying, “he talks and talks and says nothing” and “he’s in his eighties, right?”

When they weren’t speaking, Hillary either stood calmly or took notes; Bernie on the other hand, drank lots of water and coughed his lungs out. Is he well?

imust, I thought his last words were ineffective. Really, all he did was blather. I missed the beginning, but I can’t remember what the hell he was talking about. He ranted on and on. Wth do people see in him?

I was just so angry at his condescending attitude. He wouldn’t let her have the last word, even if just to ramble and repeat. He never gave any plans or details, the mods didn’t call him on that. I could see the contrast between her knowledge and calmness and his red faced ranting but I hope the rest of the public sees that. Esp. with the spin the media will do afterward, which I refuse to watch.

Yes, I did like when Gwen said, he could respond but it would be during his closing time. But I wish she had cut him off more when he butted in. Are you saying that he did himself harm with his behavior. That Hillary basically let him hang himself with his own incompetence and ranting? If so, I agree. But I still don’t trust the general public to see that. I’ve got like PTSD from 2008 or something. I know her support his strong in NV, but I still worry.

It was certainly an interesting debate! I agree with the comments above, as to Sanders being allowed to talk for three minutes at times. He must get the last word, always. And yes, the questions to him are usually pretty easy. Why not ask him about his non-support of Denocrats across the country in campaigns?

The last part is going to be talked about for quite a while. Well, Sanders started it. Bringing up some mention in Hillary’s book about Kissinger, was ridiculous. And then Hillary took a bit of a chance in her noting various Sanders comments about Obama. The sort of amusing thing to me was that I was probably agreeing with such comments at the time. But It is also true that he is ostensibly running as a Democrat. And also that the Republicans would carve him up with such things, unless he tried to completely run away from Obama’s record, which would be a sure loss that way as well. I am thinking that the Left Wing commentators will blast her for it. But it’s not going to come up unless she mentions it in a debate; and after all, Sanders made those comments. It’s one thing to be a maverick Independent senator, it is another to run for President, and claim that you can govern and mediate.

After watching the debates and reading Twitter comments, all I can say is Upps, slide down because I need a break too. It is time to face facts. We have raised two generations of the most “special snowflakes” and we are going to reap what we raised.

I fear just as the The Great Depression woke up the good-time gang of the Roaring ’20s, it will take another one to wake up this entitled lot.

It seems like the worm may have turned as even MSNBS was talking about how poorly Bernie did in this debate. I honestly don’t see how the media can continue to fluff Bernie after that disastrous debate performance and the fact that his bros have been trashing people like John Lewis. I understand the worry though because we all know that the media will do anything to fluff Bernie.

David Axelrod said her “tone” was better in this debate. So, she didn’t defend herself against most of the attacks b/c she needed to look calm. But Sanders can wag is finger and wave his arms and yell. Okay, I get it.

I think that Secretary Clinton did a really good job. She came off as Presidential. She was calm, clear headed and was able to rise above the nonsense that Bernie Sanders was throwing out there. Bernie appeared so very out of touch and way too fidgety. He looked uncomfortable in his own skin. When he began with the Kissinger comments I thought Bernie you need to address what’s going on now that was like 40 years ago. And really his “stinging” retort that she ran against Obama in 2008? What was that?

Don’t get me started on the racial statements he made because really African Americans hang out on street corners? WTF Did I hear that right? Somebody tell me that I didn’t, just please tell me he didn’t say that.

imust — I’m totally with you on the PTSD and the apprehension re what’s coming and how she’ll do. The national polls show he’s now within 7 points of her, which is ridiculous. People may question the value of these nat’l polls pre-SC/NV polls, but it’s enough to keep me up at night.

I see BS play the BO card, and it does feel like 2008 redux. Even if he doesn’t win, he’s really damaging her for the GE, and not just with the GOP. I can imagine many of his zealot supporters staying home on GE day if he doesn’t get it. He’s an a**hole.

I can’t believe a lot of the press think the debate was a tie; or that a focus group of Dems in NV thought Bernie won. WTF is the matter with these people. No reasonable person seeing the debate could conclude anything other than that she TROUNCED him.

My niece (who becomes a voter a month before the election) has been facebook liking all these posts about how horrible Gloria Steinem and Madeline Albright are for suggesting that women should vote for women. (I know they didn’t really say that, but whatever!) She just liked a post bemoaning the fact that a committee of all men decided not to take the tax off of tampons in Utah (where she lives). First, electing a woman president is so much more than worrying about paying a few pennies a month on tampon tax. Second, where do all these young women think the women legislators come from? They FU##ING need to be elected. People need to realize that men and women have different life experiences and that those life experiences have an impact on their political priorities. Not brave enough to challenge her on facebook so I will rant here.

NES I was hoping that I was wrong. Thanks for confirming it. We all know that I am not a fan of Bernie Sanders but some of the things he said last night in the debate were just embarrassing. I actually started feeling sorry for him. There are so many things he just doesn’t get. The generalizations he makes are just awful and insulting. All Secretary Clinton had to do last night was just show up because he really destroyed his own campaign last night.

flvoter — I wish that were true about the beginning of the end for BS. I just saw a scary NV poll — they’re literally tied there now (post-NH). NV is supposed to be a good state for her (and was in Dec., when she polled 20+ points ahead of him.

I personally thought that Steiinem’s comments were not helpful. Whom is she going to convince in that way? Of course, it is true that allmost all of the Sanders supporters are inpervious to logic or arguments. They have no perspective and no sense of history political, social, or otherwise.

NES, I also am concerned about what damage Sanders may be doing. However, had there been no oppositioin to Hillary, I’m not sure if that would have been good, either. She’s sharpened her skills, and shown very well in debates. The biggest problem is that the media is all against her, and so they color everything in the worst possible way for her. They want a close race, for viewership, and they want her to lose.But I do not think that Sanders is within seven points of her. I did knew that the media would do everything they could to use NH against her in a big way. They have a gameplan and a preconceived narrative. NBC writes hit pieces against Hillary every day. Today’s take was that somehow in a stunning development, Hillary is trying to make the race about Sanders, not her. Just a ridiculous perspective, but everything they write is purposeful. Apparently they think that she is just supposed to sit there and be attacked, and be the punching bag for Sanders and the Republicans and the media.

Many “dog Whistles” in last night’s debate. ( Sexism,racism;blatant cluelessness) Hillary just had to be Hillary (calm,competent,compassionate) and let Bernie ” Get off of my lawn” rant on about Kissinger and Cambodia.

You know you’ve won the debate when Gloria Borger.Anna Navvaro and even Bill Press compliment you. ( PLUS ,Gloria called out Bill Press for some blatant sexism. Must’ve hit a nerve,Bill blushed. He was dissing Hillary for saying,”When I’m president.” Gloria said,” The men say that all the time and you don’t think it’s presumptuous then.” Hee-hee-hee).

I’ve noticed the CNN pundits are often complimentary re: Hillary after debates but then they must get reprimanded because by the next day all the out takes are edited to get rid of Bernie’s bloviating and cut to take Hillary’s responses out of context.

Let’s hope all the right people recognize the dog whistles.

OH,BTW, I very much recommend hanging out w/ 8 year olds @ a school Valentine’s Day party. The kids had ice cream w/ a wide array of toppings. One little girl came up to me,showed me her bowl and said,” It looks like a unicorn threw up.” Even 8 year olds are critiquing Bernie’s campaign.
Enjoy the long weekend!!

I don’t know about there being any silver-lining to Sanders’ run, William — she’s been through this election mill before and her debating skills are second to none. It would’ve been great for her to have run without any opposition at all and focused on the Repubs instead. But, it is what it is – – and it sucks for all of us. I continue to think Sanders is not a diversion — but rather a real threat to her. I was shocked to learn, only today, that since last year that millennials now outnumber boomers — when’d that happen? It’s a terrible demographic for her because she reminds them of their parents and the demands parents make on kids. Bernie, by contrast, is like the pied piper (or the indulgent grandpa), promising them the world and not depriving them of anything. And, I don’t take much comfort in the trope that Clintons get the minorities — the minorities have the same millennial ‘problem’ for us because there’s no reason they shouldn’t vote like their feckless white counterparts. Every analysis of the Clintons seems to be based on static 1992-2000 thinking, notwithstanding the walloping they got in 2008. The Clinton machine is done with. And, UW is right – their campaign machine is weak and out-of-touch.

We know about the media bias, but it doesn’t do any good to continue to complain about it because that situation isn’t going to change, ever. At bottom, the media likes a winner — her press will improve when, and if, she starts winning and winning big. Sanders is in her way and is damaging her every step of the way — he’s pushed her left and he has bled her of her female vote (for categories other than the 50-60+ women, although he’s made inroads into that group as well), and now he’s shooting for the younger black voters. If only he’d just drop dead – – I was quite happy he had a persistent cough at the debate. (I know that’s cruel, but I’m sick of him and this 2008 redux he’s created.)